Total Pokemon: Hoenn
by Dark Arcanine 33
Summary: Zeraora and Silvally host a Total Pokemon competition! Fourteen competitors from Hoenn compete IN Hoenn for 100,000 Poke. Who will win? Read and find out!
1. Episode 1: A Pick Me Up

**000**

A slim-figured, bipedal yellow and black feline was exiting her room at the Hall of Origin. She had icy blue eyes, and blue zigzag whiskers resembling thunderbolts. Her fur was spiky in certain areas and the fur on her lower half resembled pants. Her paws were relatively large, with blue marks on her palms. There was a spiky scarf extending from her fur on her upper half. There were black zigzag marks on her legs and blue markings on her chest.

Her name was Zeraora, a mythical Pokemon new to the hall. Treading in silence as she walked toward the slide at the left end of the balcony, she looked down and saw a few other legendaries going about their own daily routines.

Ever since she got there a month ago, she acted like an introvert, so hardly anyone even acknowledged her being there. The only one who actually did so was Mew, who she actually found herself liking just based off of how he acted.

Sliding down to the bottom floor, she rose up and started heading toward Arceus and Giratina's room. Mew had come to her room earlier and let her know that the two of them wanted to talk to her. She didn't know what to make of that request, as she was sure that she hadn't done anything wrong.

Approaching the large doors that lead into their room, she took a breath. She pushed the large doors open and entered the couple's room. Upon entering, she immediately caught sight of another legendary Pokemon already standing there at the foot of their bed.

He looked like an amalgamation of different parts, having a black body with purple scales on a part of his hindquarters and legs, and green insect-like forelimbs. He had a fish-like tail with three spikes. His head was wolf-like, with a snout that was metallic on the bridge of his nose and upper jaw. His triangular black nose was framed by three red lines. His upper jaw had a pointy overbite and his lower jaw had two fangs. His eyes were white with silver irises. He had a crest on his head with three spikes sticking out of it. He had two ears on either side of his crest, and they were black and red on the insides.

It was Silvally. Zeraora hadn't really seen him around much, but it didn't necessarily matter, as the only legendaries here that she'd spoken to were Arceus, Giratina, and Mew. Her presence was eventually made known as Silvally eyed her in suspicion.

"What's _she_ doing here?"

Zeraora rose a brow at his attitude before her eyes narrowed in a glare. "I could ask _you_ the same question," she responded irritatedly.

"Oh! Zeraora, there you are…" Arceus acknowledged as the feline entered her and Giratina's room. "We'd like to speak with you."

Silvally scoffed. "Figures, blow me off for someone else. You know what, _Arceus_ , you're such a fucking cunt, I swear…"

"Silvally!" Giratina stated sternly, making the Synthetic Pokemon jump at the sudden bluster. "You're staying in here, too…"

Silvally's tail wagged in happiness as he eyed Giratina with a suggestive smirk. Seeing the look he was receiving, the Renegade Pokemon rolled his eyes.

Zeraora sighed in annoyance. "What did you want to talk about?" she asked, wanting to get back on track.

"Right. Well, since you've been here for a little over a month, we feel that you should begin your hosting trials," Arceus explained.

"Hosting trials?" Zeraora queried, folding her arms in confusion. She already knew that nearly every legendary had some type of competition-type show, but she never knew about trials.

"Yeah… this bitch and her… sexy hunk of meat… makes us all do a stupid trial season of a competition," Silvally explained. "We have to gather under twenty contestants, bring them in, host their competition, and once it's over, they decide if you're able to keep going or not. Then, you can decide to keep going, or ditch the shit and just hang out here…"

"And this is _mandatory_?" Zeraora queried tonelessly.

"Yes," Arceus replied. "But don't worry, we're going to do something similar to what we did for Solgaleo and Lunala."

"Similar, yet different," Giratina added. "And Silvally, you'll be a part of this…"

"WHAT!?" the normal-type yelped. "But I already did my stupid trial! Why do I have to do it again?"

"Well," Arceus started, glaring down at the Synthetic Pokemon. "There's the fact that whenever you come around here, you act high and mighty, try to give orders to everyone as if you're _me_ , and try to seduce Giratina _unsuccessfully…_ "

"You don't deserve him!" Silvally argued back.

"So, consider this a punishment…" Arceus replied, making Silvally grumble to himself.

"Now," Giratina began. "Solgaleo and Lunala did their season, Total Pokemon: Alola, in which only Pokemon native to the Alola region were able to compete. So, this time we're going to have you host a season with a similar premise. However, instead of Alola, you will be accepting applications of Pokemon native to the Hoenn region…"

"Hoenn?" Zeraora queried. "Shouldn't that be Kyogre and Groudon's thing? Or Latios or Latias? The Regis? Jirachi? Deoxys?"

"Or Rayquaza…" Silvally added, tightening his glare toward the Alpha Pokemon.

"They are all a part of this already," Arceus explained. "Since they know that region the best, they compiled a list of challenges that you will be doing. That way you don't have to think of them on the spot. "

"Huh…" Silvally commented, a bit surprised at that. "Not bad."

"Since you two will be co-hosts of the season, you two will have to choose contestants together," Giratina replied. "Once you have all of them chosen, you send them emails and tell them where to meet you and where. Or, if you want to be different, you can actually go pick them up at their homes."

Zeraora rose a brow upon hearing that suggestion. Having all of this be explained actually made things sound kinda fun. Sure, she acted introverted here, but that was because she knew that being her normally extroverted self could get her in some trouble or cause unwanted annoyances. And, she was all for breaking traditions, rather they be minor or major.

"Okay," she nodded with a smile. "That actually sounds good.

"Nice to see your mood switch," Arceus replied. "Now, once you have all of that figured out, just let us know when you're going to begin, we'll give you your license, and everything will be set."

"Alright then, so how do we get people to submit?" Zeraora queried.

"You create an ad and an application online and wait for submissions," Giratina explained. "Just ask Mew for his laptop and he should let you use it. Hell, he may even be able to guide you a bit."

"Alrighty," Zeraora said, rubbing her paws in anticipation as she started heading out of their room. "You coming Silvally?"

Silvally sighed. "Fine…" he drawled. He looked back up at the two, giving Arceus a death glare before smiling at Giratina. "Seeya Giry~..."

Giratina groaned in annoyance.

 **000**

 **2 months later**

 **000**

Zeraora and Silvally approached the doors of the alpha couple. There was a speaker and a button next to the doors now; it was put there so the others didn't just barge into their room. Now they all had to page in.

Zeraora, who was holding a clipboard, pressed the red button. "Arceus, Giratina… it's Zeraora. Sivally and I are ready…"

After a few seconds, the door opened, allowing the two of them to enter the room. The two of them went over to the foot of the couple's bed, where they saw them scoot forward, ready for the news regarding their preparation.

"Alright, it's been two months. Have you guys gotten everything settled?" Arceus queried.

"If we hadn't, do you think we'd be here?" Silvally replied, rolling his eyes.

Ignoring him, the couple turned to Zeraora, who was seemingly going to be the voice of reason of their show.

"He means yes…" Zeraora replied exasperatedly. Over the past two months, she and Silvally actually formed a sort of friendship. She learned that he was flamboyant, was jealous of Arceus, and wanted Giratina for himself. But, other than that, he was a pretty calm and fun guy who was snarky and eccentric at times.

"We've chosen fourteen contestants and sent them emails telling them to be ready for pickup this Friday…" Zeraora explained.

"Good. And do you have your living arrangements in check for your players?" Giratina queried.

"Yes," Zeraora replied, turning up a page on the clipboard. "We've rented a bus for the initial pickup, and two large trailers, as well as a truck that will pull the two of them to each of our locations…"

"Okay," Arceus said, nodding her head. "But, how do you plan on making it across the water with the truck and trailers?"

"Mew is going to help us out with that…" the electric-type replied proudly.

"Alright… great work," the goddess replied. Giratina handed them two slips of paper, their license that prevented them from being sued or arrested, and the list of challenges created by the Hoenn native legendaries.

Zeraora placed both papers on her clipboard and took a breath. With some coaching from Mew, and examples of how all of the other shows have gone, Zeraora seemed ready to go. Silvally, having already done his own show years ago, already had the experience, so he wasn't necessarily nervous either.

"Alright, you two get yourselves ready for Friday. Your season trial is starting soon and we'll be watching," Giratina stated.

Silvally purred. "Good to know~..."

Giratina sighed, while Arceus glared daggers at Silvally. Silvally and Zeraora began leaving the room, with the electric-type hip checking the normal-type, who giggled.

 **000**

Eventually, Friday came. Zeraora purred as she slept in her soft, fluffy bed. Each of her walls were painted blue and yellow, with a black zigzag line separating the colors. Her carpet was a pure white and she had a maroon dresser across from her bed that held a smart television and a dvr. A clock was hanging over her bed.

She had a nightstand next to her bed with a couple of drawers that held books and magazines, while her alarm clock rested on the top. On the opposite side, she had a tall lamp with two bulbs. One near the middle and the other at the top.

The feline was resting peacefully, but it was eventually interrupted by the beeping of her alarm clock.

 _BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

Zeraora's eyes popped open because of the annoying sound as she reached over and slammed the top of the clock, turning it off. She rose up stretching her body and popping her locked joints. She picked up a weight lying next to her bed, a seventy-five pound dumbbell, and began to lift it with one of her arms.

She took a breath as she eyed the clock. "7:45 AM…" she read. "That gives us enough time to eat, shower, and get everything ready," she said to herself as she continued lifting her weight. She switched arms as the clock hit 7:46, and she sat there for another minute until it hit 7:47.

She placed her weight down and started heading to her door. Leaving her room, she noticed how quiet it was in the hall. Usually it was a lot more chaotic. "Huh. I guess these guys don't get up until nine or ten o'clock," she thought out loud to herself as she walked down the balcony to Silvally's room.

Not wanting to knock and wake up the others, she immediately tried to open the door, only for it to be locked. She groaned to herself as she tried it again, continuing to pull the handle on his door. She sighed, seeing that it wouldn't work. She had learned that the Synthetic Pokemon was a heavy sleeper as well, so he more than likely wasn't hearing anything.

Noticing the lock on his door, she unsheathed a claw and started fiddling with it. After a while, nothing happened, making her irritated. She went back into her room and sat on her bed, picking up her cellphone.

She pressed the number one and the call button before holding the phone up to her ear. After a few rings, her call was answered. " _Hello?_ " she heard a groggy voice say.

"Mew?"

" _Zera_?" he replied, recognizing her voice.

"Yeah, it's me," she replied sheepishly. "Uh, I know you're tired, but can you like teleport me into Silvally's room or wake him up for me or just something of that nature, please? His door's locked."

There was a bit of silence before a sigh echoed over the phone. " _Okay, got it,_ " the New Species Pokemon replied.

"Thanks," she replied with a smile creeping on her face.

" _No problem_ …" he replied. She hung up seconds later, taking a deep breath.

The cat suddenly felt herself tingling as a pink aura surrounded her, making her vanish.

 **000**

Zeraora appeared inside of another room, looking around. She noticed that the room was a light gray, with a red circular rug in the middle of the room. There were a couple of beanbag chairs against the wall, next to a _bunch_ of Giratina plushes. Turning, she saw that his television was hanging on the wall across from his bed.

The chimera was lying atop the covers on his bed, a small blanket covering him as he snored. Zeraora sighed, shaking her head as she approached her co-host's bed. "Silvally…" she called as she got up to his bed.

She started shaking his bed a bit, but got a response she wasn't really looking for.

" _Mmph… Giry~..._ " he mumbled in his sleep as he rolled over onto his other side with a smile.

Holding her head, she rubbed two of her fingers together, generating a bit of electricity between them. She pinched Silvally's side, effectively causing him to shoot up with a yelp. Looking at who it was, he groaned. "Zeraora, come on...five more minutes…" he groaned, placing a pillow over his head.

"Silvally, we have to eat, get ready, and pick up fourteen players…" Zeraora explained, folding her arms. "I'd prefer that we shake a leg early so we don't spend all day doing this…"

"Why are we picking them up when they already live there, again?" Silvally complained, turning to her.

"It makes us different," Zeraora replied simply. "Maybe we'll start a new trend for the others. Who knows?"

"Nearly everyone here is annoying or an asshole, I doubt they'll care," Silvally replied, turning away from her.

She folded her arms at his stubbornness. She glanced around before setting her eyes upon his mound of Giratina plushes. "Either you get up… or I burn all of your Giratina plushes…"

Immediately, Silvally's eyes popped open. He swiftly leapt out of bed and dove into the pile of plushies. "NOBODY touches my Girys but ME!" he exclaimed defensively.

"Good," Zeraora responded smugly, seeing that he was now out of bed. "Now, get ready…"

 **-000-**

As she left, Silvally grumbled to himself as he watched his door close. He exited the pile of stuffed figures before scooting them all back into the pile. He took a deep breath and looked around his room before deciding to head out.

The flamboyant chimera exited his room and headed toward the slide. Peering down, he saw Zeraora heading toward the kitchen. Sliding down, he headed in the direction of the bathrooms and showers. Given that everyone in the hall was of varying sizes, the doors had to be adjusted in order to accommodate.

He opened the large closet next to the door leading to the showers and carefully balanced himself on his hind legs in order to reach the towels. Retrieving what he needed, he headed into the room.

Passing by the numerous, white brick-lined cubicles, each with names over them, Silvally's eyes widened as he saw both Giratina and Arceus were each in their respective cubicles. His eyes widened as he made sure to slow down in order to get a full view of Giratina's wet form. The Synthetic Pokemon cooed to himself, biting his lip as he walked by, with Arceus giving him a death glare.

Silvally returned the glare, very annoyed by Arceus. Humans, who _she_ decided to make disappear completely, created him. Who did she think she was? Mewtwo and Genesect, despite being created by humans as well, had no ill will toward her despite this fact.

In his eyes, he would be a much better god; just her presence alone triggered him and irritated him. In addition, she had Giratina wrapped around almost all of the time! As soon as he was brought into the hall, his eyes locked on Giratina and he knew that he was in love with him. It was unfair that he decided to marry that bitch instead of him.

These thoughts circulated throughout his brain as he eventually reached his own cubicle. Each cubicle was designed to clean the legendary based on their physiology, but due to his attitude and behavior, _his_ was downgraded.

"Stupid fucking bitch…" he cursed to himself as he entered his cubicle. His cubicle, instead of having a shower head, had a hole in the wall with a blue hose hanging out of it. He placed his towels on the outside of his cubicle before stepping forward and pressing a red button on the wall.

The hose rose up straight at him before starting to spray him with lukewarm water. "I… hate this…" he stated annoyedly.

Two nozzles extended from the sides spraying body wash on him. Two towel arms and a singular scrubber extended from the sides and bottom of his cubicle.

He slowly turned around, making sure his whole body got rinsed off. After five minutes, the Synthetic Pokemon pressed the button to stop it. All of the arms retracted back into the walls and floor as he stepped out.

Picking up the first towel with his mouth, he spread it out before standing on it. He immediately started shaking his fur, like all canines do, before picking up his other towel and placing it on the ground. He lied down on it, starting to roll on it, making sure that he got dry.

After a while, he picked up both towels before taking them to the basket near the back of the shower. "Stupid, lousy…" he grumbled to himself as he started heading out of the shower room.

 **-000-**

Zeraora was munching on some cereal while sitting at one of the tables in the kitchen. She looked over her clipboard, which she had to go back to her room to get, and took a breath to ease her sudden anxiety.

Silvally entered the kitchen with an annoyed expression on his face. He was clean, at least. The chimera opened the fridge, taking out a stick of butter.

"Well, you look squeaky clean…" Zeraora commented, noticing his sleeker fur.

"Yeah, if only I actually had hot water, I'd _love_ looking this way in that case…" he replied with a glare as he walked over to the loaf of bread. "So, who do we have to pick up, first?" he asked, slicing the butter and spreading it across two slices of bread.

"Hmm… well our first location will be Littleroot Town, but we'll only be staying there for a couple of days so the contestants have a chance to breath, get their heads together, and get to know each other, so I think we should start from the farthest location and make our way toward it."

"So… start at Sootopolis and then make our way to Littleroot," Silvally said as he placed his bread into the toaster.

"Yep," she replied, standing up with her bowl. "So, I'll go shower, you eat, and we'll get going once I'm out."

Silvally nodded as Zeraora put the sink and started heading to the shower. He sat down where the feline once sat as he waited for his toast to finish.

After a couple of minutes, Entei entered the kitchen. Upon seeing Silvally there, he rose a brow. The two of them were friends, Entei just thought that it was weird that he was up so early.

"Hey dude, uh… whatcha doing in here so early?" Entei queried, nuzzling him in greeting. "Don't you usually sleep in?"

"Zeraora wants to get everything done early so we won't take so long getting everything situated for our show…" Silvally explained. "Speaking of, how's you guys' second season going?"

"Meh, they cancelled it. Too many contestants, low ratings, and the fact that we don't really give a shit really combined into a shitshow," Entei replied nonchalantly.

"Jeez. That sucks…" Silvally commented as Entei raided the fridge.

"It's whatever," Entei responded. "No responsibilities mean that I can spend more time with Solgaleo…"

Silvally chuckled at his friend's persistence. He had been all over Solgaleo ever since his and Lunala's show ended. "How's he doing?" the chimera queried, remembering about the larger lion's depression.

"He's a little bit better," Entei replied, taking out a bag of blueberries. "I'm gonna try to make him some breakfast and hopefully brighten his mood a bit more."

"Aw… still trying to be wifey. How precious," Silvally teased playfully.

Entei winked back as he put the berries on the counter. Silvally's toast shot up from the toaster, prompting him to rise up to retrieve it. "So… you never told me. How good is Solgaleo in the sack?"

Entei chuckled. "Sorry, but that's for me to know and you to find out. He doesn't even care about what I do anymore… which… kinda upsets me. But, hopefully he feels better soon…"

Silvally nodded as he grabbed his toast before going back to his seat. "Well, tell him I wish him the best…" he stated.

Entei smiled, nodding as Silvally munched on his toast. Once he finished, he grabbed Zeraora's clipboard and started heading into the living room. Nobody was there, unsurprisingly, so Silvally sat and watched television as he waited for Zeraora.

 **-000**

Zeraora popped her back as she wrapped a towel around herself. As she dried herself off, she saw a small, pink figure entering the shower room. She smiled softly as she walked up to him.

"Hey Mew," Zeraora greeted.

"Oh. Hey, Zera…" the New Species Pokemon responded, kissing her cheek.

The electric-type blushed. "You getting ready for another show?"

With a chuckle, Mew responded enthusiastically. "Nope. For once, I'm getting a long break. Victini's doing some kinda reboot of our show without us since he wants to see how well the show does without us at the helm."

Zeraora giggled, hugging him from behind. "Well, that's great. I'm so happy for you," she said, kissing his cheek.

Mew smiled back, "Thanks. Oh, and good luck on your show, today…"

"Thanks," she said with a blush before kissing his cheek again and nuzzling him.

She and Mew had gotten closer over the past few months, to the point where she gained feelings for him. They hadn't become official or anything, but at the moment, it was slowly becoming a possibility.

Soon enough, Zeraora let him go, allowing him to get into his section and begin his shower. She headed toward the back to get rid of her towel before walking toward the exit. On her wait out, though, Mew floated out and kissed her on the lips, causing a blush to spread across her face.

"Try to enjoy it… and… don't be an asshole to the contestants. Just don't…" Mew suggested, patting her shoulders.

Zeraora was still blushing from the kiss, but she nodded and headed out of the room. Going back into the kitchen, she saw that Silvally was no longer there, and neither was her clipboard. However, she _did_ see Entei sitting there, mixing pancake batter with blueberries.

She never really spoke to him before, but given that she was going to have to be herself while hosting, she figured that she might as well greet him. "Uh… hey Entei," she greeted, entering the room.

"Oh, you're actually talking, now?"

"Sorry. Just didn't feel that comfortable doing speaking to anyone around here except for Mew and Silvally," Zeraora explained with a shrug. "Speaking of, have you seen the latter? He was in here before I left to go shower."

"He went to the living room," the Volcano Pokemon replied, focusing on his mixing.

Zeraora nodded before walking toward the living room. Inside, she saw Silvally lying on the couch with her clipboard beside him. "Alright, you ready?"

"Are _you_?" the Synthetic Pokémon retorted, raising a brow.

"Well, Mew just kissed me and told us to enjoy ourselves and not be assholes, so I'm _more_ than ready," she stated confidently.

Silvally cooed, "Ooh… so are you two together now?"

"I'm not completely sure, but it's a start," Zeraora responded with a smile, which Silvally kindly returned. "Alright, let's go…"

 **000**

The duo walked outside, where an enormous bus sat. Silvally was in complete awe at the enormous vehicle before them. There were seats on the top of the bus, as well as inside of it. It looked big enough to hold even _Groudon_!

"Whoa… how the hell did you pay for this huge thing?"

"I didn't. Arceus and Giratina did. They budget the trials, right?"

Silvally scoffed. "That bitch made _me_ pay for everything when I did my trial!"

Zeraora, not having anything to say, walked toward the bus. She entered it before beckoning the Synthetic Pokemon to come in.

The chimera walked up, entering the humongous vehicle as Zeraora sat in the driver's seat. Looking back, he saw that the seats were a dark black with pink, yellow, and blue shapes covering them, as well as the floor. He also noticed neon poles lining the insides. There were television screens hanging in front of each seat.

"There's a lot of cool things that this bus can do. It has an awesome heater and airconditioning unit," she said, pointing to the vents above her.

"Neon lights…" she said, flipping a switch and causing the lights around the bus to glow and slowly change color.

"TV…" she said, pressing a black 'TV Power' button, which was next to two small volume buttons. Immediately, sounds and light came from the screens in front of the seats.

"And… we can fly, dive, and drive across water like a motorboat," the electric feline continued, pointing to three switches.

"How much did this thing _cost_?!" Silvally exclaimed as he started walking toward the back as he glanced around. He noticed that there were outlets and cupholders behind each seat, astounding him further.

"Well, it's just a rental, but it _does_ have all of this fancy stuff, so… if I remember correctly, it was 48,653 Poke…" Zeraora answered, turning the wheel.

"UNDER 50,000?!" Silvally exclaimed. "How is that- wait… I'm a legendary and you're a mythical… why did you have to pay at all? You could have just told the company or whoever you got this thing from that it's for a show and that it'll give them a shit ton of business…"

Zeraora shrugged. "Didn't really bother thinking about it. Plus, I ordered it online, so there wasn't really a face-to-face meeting. I ordered it, Arceus and Giratina paid, and Mew teleported it here."

"I'm shocked that none of the others have tried fucking with it…" Silvally marveled as he started walking back to the front.

"That's because Mew kept it hidden until today," Zeraora explained, turning to him. "So, you ready?"

Silvally nodded. "Let's get going," he stated before realizing something. "Wait, you know how to drive?"

Zeraora turned on the bus before flipping the switch enabling flight. A faint pink aura surrounded the bus. "Can you hit the GPS for me?"

Silvally rose a brow in confusion; she hadn't mentioned a GPS. She pointed to a screen on the dashboard near the door, which the chimera noticed.

He slid the lever underneath the screen, effectively turning it on. Zeraora pulled out a microphone that was retracted above the wheel. "Sootopolis City," she spoke into the microphone.

Silvally was confused at first, but he suddenly felt the bus began to rise. "Wait… what is-"

"It has an autopilot function, so… let's just sit back and enjoy the ride," Zeraora replied as she got up and started heading back to the seats. Silvally followed her as the two took their own seats and watched the movie playing.

 **000**

The bus landed in water, immediately going into its boat mode. With the bus rocking back and forth in the water, Silvally and Zeraora peered out of the windows, seeing numerous Pokemon walking about. There were numerous Pokemon walking about who were looking at them.

"Alright, who's first?" Silvally asked, looking over to the electric cat's clipboard. "Alright, our first player is… Pelipper," she said, looking down at the paper. "And… He's the only one who lives in this city, weird enough."

"Address?"

"385 Barecom Avenue…" Zeraora read as she rose up. Silvally followed suit and the two exited the bus, climbing onto the city platform. Their statuses made their presence in the city all the more exciting.

As they walked by, Pokemon living in the city stopped walking and gaped in awe at the two legendaries. Silvally felt proud, winking and holding his head high. Zeraora, on the other hand, felt awkward, as none of the other Pokemon were saying anything, they only gawked at them like hunks of meat.

"This is really awkward…"

"OH MY ARCEUS! LEGENDARIES!" they heard a voice yell from the crowd of people.

"And... So it actually begins…" Silvally stated to himself.

"Come on, let's just find Pelipper and get out of here…" Zeraora replied, covering the side of her face upon noticing that people were taking out cellphones.

After about ten whole minutes of searching for the Water Bird Pokemon, the two of them grew a bit annoyed, as they started were constantly being approached with questions. Sure, they answered them, but it was irritating nonetheless.

"Ugh… where the hell is he?" Zeraora groaned.

"Uh… who are you guys looking for?" a small Meditite asked.

Zeraora really didn't want to rely on a child for directions, but there were also a few adults around. She sighed. "We're looking for a Pelipper."

"Oh. He lives in the alley behind those houses!" it replied happily.

"Um… come again?" Silvally queried.

A Gallade spoke up. "Pelipper… is a special case. He's letting a group of thugs live in his house… without him in it."

Zeraora and Silvally exchanged looks of unsurety.

 **-000-**

The Gallade led the two hosts to the alleyway the Meditite spoke about, where they saw a Pelipper snoozing with a pillow and a blanket covering him. They noticed that the house next to him had a long cord extending from a window. He had a refrigerator and his laptop connected to the cable, along with a small Ikea table.

"Okay what the hell?" Silvally asked in confusion.

"If you don't mind me asking… what do you need him for?"

"We've chosen him for a Total Pokemon season," Zeraora explained, walking up to him.

"Oh… I thought it was going to be something actually important," the Gallade responded. "Don't really see the appeal."

And with that comment, he walked away, with Silvally rolling his eyes as he followed Zeraora to the sleeping pelican.

"Pelipper… PELIPPER!" Zeraora shouted.

The Water Bird Pokemon jumped awake at the sudden exclamation. "Ah! Who, what, when?!"

Looking around frantically, his eyes eventually settled upon the two legendaries before him. They immediately widened in astonishment.

"Oh my Arceus… y-you guys are actually here!?" he exclaimed, flying up. "Oh my Arceus, oh my Arceus, this is amazing!"

"Yep, it sure is…" Silvally replied, looking at the bird's situation. "Uh… what happened? Why are you living here and not in your house?"

"Oh... You know about that?" Pelipper replied sheepishly.

"Yeah…" Silvally replied. "A Gallade told us that you're letting thugs live in your house?"

Pelipper sighed. "I just let one of them stay because he got kicked out of his house, then he brought his friends and girlfriend and invited _them_ to stay as well. Then, they voted on who got to stay and leave, and… I got called out."

"But… But that's _your_ house," Zeraora stated. "I mean… do you still pay the bills and everything?"

"Yep," Pelipper replied. "Like you said, it's still my house, and I still have provisions, so it's not that big of a deal…"

"Uh… dude, you're practically paying low-life losers to stay in your house. How is that not that big of a deal?!" Silvally exclaimed.

"I mean, as long as they're living well and I'm living in general, what does it matter?"

The hosts exchanged looks of discouragement. Zeraora sighed. "Come with us…"

Pelipper smiled as the two hosts started walking away. He floated up toward the window where the cable was coming from. "Alright kids, I'm gonna be gone for a few months, take care of the house, okay!"

"FUCK OFF, BITCH!" a voice from inside shouted back as a glass bottle of Bluk Berri hit him in the face.

Luckily for him, it didn't shatter, but it landed on his laptop, which was sitting on the flimsy Ikea table. This chain reaction caused the table to shatter.

Pelipper sighed as he followed the two hosts.

 **000**

Making it back to the bus, Zeraora and Silvally saw that, instead of just the beige and white color that decorated the outside, someone spray painted penises and the word 'LOOZERS' on the side in a multitude of different colors.

"Oh for fuck's sake! This is just the first stop!" Zeraora exclaimed.

"Hmph, little bastards couldn't even draw dicks correctly," Silvally stated, insulted at the lack of care.

"Don't worry, I'll wash it off. The only paint that the town has is washable," Pelipper said, flying up a few seconds after.

He blasted a Hydro Pump at the bus, and the paint immediately began dripping off.

"Nice work, Pelipper," Zeraora stated, nodding in approval as she entered the bus. Silvally followed after, and Pelipper, after making sure that the bus was clean, entered as well.

 **-000-**

"Whooooa…" Pelipper said, seeing how large the bus was on the inside, as well as how cozy it felt.

"Yep, I had the same reaction," Silvally said as Pelipper flew behind him and took a seat. "So, get comfortable. We have a few more stops…"

"That's fine by me," Pelipper replied with a smile.

"Next stop Z?" Silvally queried as Zeraora stood at the dashboard with her clipboard.

"Hmm…" she hummed in response as she looked over the contestants and their addresses. "Looks like… Mossdeep City."

She turned on the bus once again, pulling out the microphone. "Mossdeep City…"

Immediately, the bus started to rise up from the water before flying out of the mystical city where history slumbers.

Taking her seat, Zeraora decided to engage in light conversation with Pelipper. Sure, she was going to give them all a chance to tell each other about themselves when the game started, but it felt rude not to acknowledge the person they just picked up.

"So Pelipper, what made you want to compete?" the feline queried.

"Well, I was actually finishing watching Total Pokemon: Alola, and I thought… wow, it'd be so cool if they did this in my region!" he chirped. "Then, lo and behold, I see you guys' show on an ad pop-up! I can't tell you how stoked I was! Is the prize really 100,000 Poke like in Alola?"

"Yes it is," Silvally replied with a firm nod. "So, what would _you_ do with that money?" he asked.

"I haven't really decided," Pelipper replied. "I just wanted to get on the show, maybe make some friends, get a girlfriend. You know, the _good_ stuff that usually happens…"

"Ah," Silvally said, nodding in understanding.

"Well, hopefully all fares well for you…" Zeraora stated with a smile.

The three remained in silence for a while, watching a different movie that was playing on the television. Eventually though, as they approached their next location, a question arose in Pelipper's head. "Say, if it's not confidential or anything… What made you guys start doing these shows? Like all legendaries in general?"

Silvally was prepared to be an asshole and bash Arceus, but Zeraora saw his look and gave him a look. "DON'T…" she stated sternly, making Silvally huff as their bus landed on a pier. She then turned to Pelipper, who was a bit confused. "It's confidential. Sorry Pelipper."

"Then what was Silvally going to say?"

Silvally was going to speak again, but Zeraora covered his mouth before dragging him out of the bus. She used a free arm to turn off the bus once again. "Pelipper, you stay here and make sure nobody fucks with the bus again, okay?"

"Um… okay?"

Zeraora stepped off of the bus and closed the door as Silvally lied on his back with an unamused expression. He smacked his lips. "Was that _really_ necessary?"

"Do you really think that Arceus is gonna let you badmouth her on international television?" she asked her co-host with a serious expression, folding her arms.

"Hey, if people can use her 'oh-so great name' in vain, then I should be allowed to criticize her idiotic decisions…" Silvally replied as he got back to his feet.

"Sil, you and I both know that your criticism would include complaining about how _you_ deserve Giratina's love, she was wrong to get rid of humans, and a series of things that only affect _you_ at the hall…"

Silvally gave her a look. She was completely right, he _would_ only mention those select few things. He grumbled to himself as a small smile grew on Zeraora's face.

"Come on, ya big baby, let's go find Spoink and Volbeat…" Zeraora said as she waved for him to follow her.

"Wait, two of the competitors live here?" Silvally queried as he ran after her.

"Yeah," the electric-type replied as she continued walking. She glanced down at her clipboard. "Spoink lives in apartment complex, and… Volbeat seems to live in a normal house."

"How can you tell?"

"Spoink's address has 'Apt 302' next to it. Pretty self-explanatory," she explained with a shrug.

The hosts entered the large city, attempting to find either the house or the apartment complex. The Mossdeep Space Center loomed over a few trees and buildings from far away. It actually distracted Silvally a bit, as he was amazed by the large rocket. This led to him walking into a street sign, where Zeraora was already standing for a few seconds.

"Ow!" the chimera yelped out.

"Hmm… Grimwood and Clark…" Zeraora acknowledged, looking at the street sign before looking at her clipboard to check the addresses once again.

Seeing her do this, Silvally went to go lie on a bus stop bench. Taking a seat, he looked around, seeing people walking by, not caring about their presence as much as the last city. Moving his arm, he noticed a piece of paper next to him.

Looking over it, he saw that it had the words 'Mossdeep City Directory' on it. His eyes widened as he looked back over to Zeraora, who was looking around, presumably for him. After peaking his head over the bench, Zeraora caught wind of him and walked over.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I found us a directory!" Silvally retorted, looking down at the paper.

Zeraora picked up the old, wrinkled paper and looked over it before sighing. "Silvally, this was from like… 100 years ago," she replied. "I'm pretty sure things have changed… _a lot_ since then."

"Well, here comes our next option of getting to where we need to…" Silvally said as he saw a Mossdeep City bus begin pulling up. "Got any loose change?" he teased.

Zeraora gave him a look as the bus stopped in front of them. The two of them entered the bus, which an old Loudred was driving.

"Bus fare?"

"We're legendaries. We don't have to pay…" Silvally started as he tried to move past the driver and get to an open seat

"Legendary or not, _I_ still gotta make a livin' doin' this stuff. So either pay up, or get off…" the Loudred replied, sternly.

Silvally glowered at the Big Voice Pokemon before looking back on the bus and noticing a Spoink sitting near the back, wearing a pair of pink headphones. He immediately rose a brow. He nudged Zeraora before gesturing to the Spoink in the back.

"Hey! Spoink!" she shouted. "SPOINK!"

A Tangela used one of its vines to tap the Bounce Pokemon, who looked to it before looking at the two legendaries at the bus doors. Its eyes widened. "No… way…"

"Yes way! We were just about to look for you!"

"That's it! OFF!" the bus driver exclaimed, using Hyper Voice to blast the two out of the door before closing them. He prepared to drive off, but Spoink hopped to the front quickly, wearing a backpack.

"Hey, you can let me off here," she told the cranky Loudred. He opened the door for her and she jumped off. He promptly sped off, leaving the two hosts to regather and dust themselves off.

"Sheesh, who pissed in _his_ Cornflakes, today…" Silvally commented, watching the bus depart.

"That's just Gene…" Spoink explained. "He hates driving on Fridays. But anyways, EEEEEEEE! I can't believe you guys actually chose me!"

"Uh huh…" Zeraora replied with a nod before noticing her carry-on. "What's with the backpack?"

"Oh, all of my treasure hunting gear is inside!" she chirped. "I can't wait to compete _and_ see what I can find!"

Silvally chuckled. "Ooh, well, that should be very interesting. Well, now you're stuck with us while we try to find another competitor that lives here. Uh, do you happen to know a Volbeat?"

"No, sorry," the pig replied. "But, I know this place like the back of my hand! I've hunted all over the city! So, I can help you guys out."

"Nice!" Zeraora exclaimed. "It's really appreciated."

"It's no problem!" Spoink responded cheerily. "So, where is the other person?"

"Um… his address is 2375 Foghollow Drive..." Zeraora read.

"Oh, Foghollow?" Spoink repeated. "That's not that far from here. It's just a couple of blocks away. C'mon."

Spoink started bouncing to the the right, with the two hosts following suit.

 **-000-**

Walking down a sidewalk, a car drove by, splashing water at the three of them. Silvally and Zeraora both let out irritated groans as Spoink continued bouncing along, seemingly unfazed by the water.

"Here it is," the psychic-type said, pointing to a set of stairs leading up to a door. It was among other houses of the same structure, as they formed a sort of wall like in some areas of Unova.

Silvally shook his fur, getting filthy water out of it, and accidentally splashing Zeraora in the process. "Dang it, Sil!"

"Sorry," he replied.

"FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING DICKHEAD!" they all heard, making them jump from the sudden exclamation. Spoink, hearing that it came from Volbeat's house, quickly bounced out of the way.

An X glowed on the door before the causing the door to break. A Scyther flew out of the house and to the left, flying past them.

"HEY, YOU! YOU'RE PAYING FOR A NEW DOOR, HERE!" a small beetle shouted. He had a mostly black body with a red 'collar' around his neck. He had a purple and yellow striped body, as well as spiral antennae of the same color.

"I'M NOT PAYING FOR SHIT, YOU CHEATING BASTARD!"

"I NEVER EVEN CHEATED ON YOU!" he yelled back as the Scyther turned the corner. It didn't even respond.

Volbeat groaned before noticing Silvally, Zeraora, and Spoink staring at him. He laughed sheepishly.

 **-000-**

"Sorry about her, she gets completely jealous for no reason…" Volbeat explained as he poured tea into three cups on a glass coffee table. "All I did was talk to a female friend on the phone!"

"What?" Zeraora asked, picking up her cup while sitting on a sofa next to Silvally and Spoink. "That's a bit extreme. You sure it didn't have to do with anything else?"

"Well, my friend told me about how her boyfriend wasn't satisfying her in bed, and I joked about how she needed a guy that would sweep her off her feet and fuck her brains out…" Volbeat explained. "She came from the back just at that moment and accused me of cheating!"

"Uh…" Spoink started. "I'm sorry, but if I walked in on my boyfriend talking about fucking brains out and it wasn't me he was talking to, I would be skeptical, myself."

"Same here," Silvally spoke up as Zeraora nodded in agreement.

Volbeat sighed. "Screw it," he said, pulling out a chair from his dining table and sat on it. "She dumped me anyway, so… I guess I'm ready to mingle again…"

"Wow, guys bounce back way quicker than I thought…" Spoink spoke, holding her cup.

"I'm just used to being dumped," Volbeat said with a shrug. "It's always either my fault, something completely stupid, or because of the girls' insecurities."

"Um… if you don't mind me asking, how long do your relationships typically last? You make it sound like it happens frequently," the electric-type spoke up.

Volbeat chortled nervously. "Well, uh… I don't really keep track of the days anymore, since I just expect it at any time, but… I think my longest relationship lasted… eight days."

The others exchanged looks of disbelief, while Volbeat sighed, expecting their reactions. "Yeah… uh, relationships usually suck for me."

"I'm sorry to hear about that…" Silvally stated.

"It's fine. Like I said, I'm used to it," Volbeat replied.

"Well," Zeraora started. "If you're ready, we can head out. We have a few more stops to make."

"Ready when you are…" Volbeat replied.

The four of them started to exit the Firefly Pokemon's house. As they began walking away, Spoink spoke up, looking at the still open door. "Um… what about your door?"

Volbeat sighed. "Right. I forgot about that. People like to steal around here…" he stated.

He looked at them sheepishly. "Um, if it's not too much to ask, I don't want to hold you guys up, so… could you maybe come back to get me once you've gotten everyone? I really need to get this fixed…"

"You can get a door fixed fast around here?" Silvally queried, looking around.

"More like I can just go buy another one and pay someone to put it in for me…" he explained.

"Uh… sure. It's no issue," Zeraora responded in understanding.

"Alright. Thanks," Volbeat replied as he flew in the opposite direction, leaving the other three to head back to the bus.

 **000**

Approaching the bus, the hosts and Spoink noticed that there were numerous posters plastered on the side of it. Zeraora groaned. "Pelipper!"

"Yes?" the Pelipper queried, looking out of the window.

"We told you to watch the bus! Why are there posters on it, now?!" Silvally groaned.

"Oh, some nice guys came up and asked for free advertisement," Pelipper explained. "They didn't seem to mean any harm, so I said okay."

Zeraora facepalmed. "Pelipper, you're not supposed to let _anyone_ put _anything_ on the bus. This is just a rental. We can't let anything bad happen to it."

"Oops," the water- and flying-type replied sheepishly. "Sorry…"

She sighed, "It's fine. Just… take care of the bus when we're not around."

"Hi there," Spoink greeted, waving at the Water Bird Pokemon.

"Hello!" he greeted.

"Silvally, can you get rid of the posters?" Zeraora asked as she and Spoink entered the bus.

The chimera sighed as he walked forward and started slashing at the papers glued onto the side of the bus.

After a while, Silvally entered the bus, shaking his claws to get off paper that was stuck to them. He passed by Zeraora, who was back at the dashboard.

"Where's next?" he asked. "And please, can you just say their address, too so we don't end up wasting time looking for their houses."

"Good call," Zeraora responded with a thumbs up. "And… It looks like we're going to Lilycove City!"

Spoink gasped. "Lilycove City? It has the best stuff! I could find a bunch of stuff there since it's so big!"

"Well, sorry Spoink, but we're only going to pick up our next competitor," Zeraora replied. "We won't be shopping…"

"Aw…" Spoink groaned.

"Lilycove City," she spoke into the microphone. "1902 Hemsworth Avenue."

The bus immediately began flying once again, leaving behind Volbeat, who they'd have to come back for. With a new passenger on board, the hosts, as well as Pelipper, started engaging in conversation with her.

"So Spoink, what made _you_ want to sign up for the show?" Silvally asked the Bounce Pokemon. "I mean, you're a treasure hunter, right?"

"Yep," Spoink replied with a smile. "And I wanted to sign up because, well… I haven't really had a chance to go anywhere else in Hoenn. Plus, I saw a few episodes of shows like this and saw the vast environments that were searchable. So, I decided to sign up and see if I'll be lucky enough to be chosen!"

"Well, looks like luck was on your side," Pelipper chuckled.

Spoink nodded in response as the bus slowly started making its descent toward the large city. Perring out of the windows, Pelipper and Spoink were in awe at all of the large buildings and the amount of Pokemon walking around.

Seeing all of this, Silvally let out a short chuckle. "Looks like I made a good call telling you to include addresses in the GPS."

"Big time…" Zeraora chuckled as the bus continued lowering.

It landed in front of a massive building. The name, 'Mustang Manor', was on the front.

Numerous Pokemon, seeing the magical bus come down from the sky, gathered around it in awe.

"Ugh… fucking curiosity," Zeraora muttered to herself, seeing all of the Pokemon surrounding in interest.

"Isn't this good for publicity?" Spoink queried. "I mean, this'll get more people to watch us!"

"That is true, but it's still a bit of an annoying hindrance…" Zeraora replied, seeing that most of the Pokemon were taking pictures and video.

"Well, just sitting here isn't going to do anything," Silvally replied, giving her a look. "The faster we go get the contestant that lives here, the faster we can leave. So, come on…"

Zeraora sighed. "Fine…" she said, getting to her feet. She turned to the other two competitors. "Okay, this time… make sure that _nobody_ messes with the bus _at all_ …"

"But…" Spoink started. "There are a ton of people around us, how are we supposed to keep the bus safe?"

"She does… _kinda_ have a point," Pelipper agreed. "And we can't really control how other people act…"

"Just… defend the bus from any assholes that try to deface it," Silvally made simple as he stepped off of the bus, with Zeraora following shortly behind and closing the doors.

Having a feeling that things were going to go poorly with the bus, she decided to make herself clear. "ATTENTION!" she exclaimed, startling Silvally, who didn't know what she was doing. "THIS IS _OUR_ BUS, SO IF ANY OF YOU DEFACE OR VANDALIZE IT IN ANY WAY, YOU WILL DEALT WITH ACCORDINGLY!"

There was murmuring from the crowd before they all turned their attention to the bus, taking pictures of both the vehicle and the two legendaries entering the enormous apartment complex.

"Do you know the apartment number?"

"Yep, room 403, so… likely the fourth floor," Zeraora said as they approached the elevators. Silvally pressed the elevator button, and almost instantly, the right one's doors opened, with six Pokemon walking out, a Raichu and her five children, a Plusle, Minun, Pichu, Pikachu, and a Pachirisu.

Upon seeing the two legendaries, the children awed and oooed in astonishment. The only one unamused was the Pachirisu, who was texting.

"Oh, you guys are the one who sent that bogus sign up sheet. What are you doing here?" he asked in a haughty tone.

Hearing his tone, Silvally gave him a look. "We're here to get one of our contestants and actually do something in our spare time. How about you?"

"Pachirisu, come along…" the Raichu stated as the EleSquirrel Pokemon glowered at the chimera. He followed his mother and siblings, but not before retaliating.

"Faggot!" the teenager shouted at the two.

Silvally stifled a laugh, shaking his head as the electric rodent family walked out of the apartment. "Pathetic…"

"Antagonizing a thirteen-year-old. How badass are _you_?" Zeraora teased sarcastically, holding the elevator door open for the Synthetic Pokemon.

Silvally smacked his lips, giving her a look as he entered the elevator. "He pretty much asked for it by using the word bogus to describe an online signup sheet."

Zeraora rolled her eyes as the elevator door closed.

 **-000-**

Exiting on the fourth floor, the two hosts looked at a small directory that had an arrow pointing to the right with the numbers 400-432 next to it, and arrow pointing up, meaning to go forward, with the numbers 432-464 next to it, and an arrow pointing to the left with numbers 465-499 next to it.

"Alright, this should be easy," Silvally said, seeing the directory. "Room 403, right?"

Nodding, Zeraora began walking down the right hallway, with Silvally in tow. Eventually, the two made it down the hall. They made it to room 403, which, strangely enough, had claw and punch marks on the door.

Seeing this caused them to become a bit concerned about their competitor choice. Zeraora knocked on the door. The two of them began waiting for a response. After about twenty seconds, the door's lock was heard and the door opened a bit, the chain lock keeping it from opening all the way.

A large, blue salamander-like Pokemon opened the door. Its orange eyes and large fins peering through the crack. Upon seeing who it was, he gasped and closed the door. A click was heard and the door opened all the way, revealing a Swampert. "I didn't think you guys would be here already!"

"Yep. Are you ready?" Silvally queried.

"Uh… sorta," Swampert replied. "I don't have to bring anything do I?"

"Other than a good attitude, no, not really," Zeraora replied with a smile.

"Okay good. Uh… you didn't happen to see a Persian and a Machamp on your way up did you?" he asked nervously, twiddling his fingers.

"Uh… no. Why?" Silvally queried, tilting his head.

"Well… I _might_ not have paid rent for the past seven months and the two of them always come try and kick me out. And they _may_ have threatened to kick my ass if I'm not out of here by Wednesday…"

"And… today's Friday," Zeraora replied, facepalming.

"So, uh… let's just hurry and get out of here before they get here," Swampert chuckled sheepishly.

Nodding, the three of them started walking again. As soon as they started walking, Swampert's eyes widened as he saw a feline in a suit, along with a four-armed beast, walking in their direction.

"Oh no…" he whispered to himself. "Move back…"

"What?"

"Come back," Swampert said through grit teeth as he started moving back.

Confused, but compliant, the two of them started moving back before entering the room, with Swampert closing the door and locking it. He moved a black, door-sized grate in front of the door, letting out a sigh of relief.

He turned back to the legendaries, who were standing nearby, looking at his half-empty apartment. There was no real furniture in the room. There was simply a laptop, a throw pillow, and a laptop on the floor. There were numerous pizza boxes strewn about, as well as empty backs of chips. They exchanged looks.

They watched as the water- and ground-type moved toward a window. He opened it and looked out of it, seeing the large bus on the street, surrounded by people. He took a breath as he looked straight down and saw the grass and plants underneath his side of the apartments. "Come on…" he said, looking at the legendaries.

"Say what?" Zeraora queried, a bit confused.

"We need to get out here before-"

A loud crash interrupted him. Turning to the source, the three of them turned to the door and saw a fist unlocking the chain and the main door before kicking in the door. The grate offered little to no resistance.

"Come on!" Swampert exclaimed as he jumped out of the window. Silvally and Zeraora's eyes widened as he did this.

The two of them didn't really have anything to fear, as they were legendaries, and the building owner and its assistant were normal Pokemon. The Machamp ran over to the window, looking out of it and seeing Swampert lying unconscious on the ground below.

"Hmmph. Bastard nearly killed himself," Machamp commented with a shrug.

"Good," Persian stated sternly. "Seven months with no fucking rent and that fuck expects to get off easy…"

He then noticed the two legendaries standing there and grew curious and amazed. "Wow. Had no idea that the lazy prick had legendary friends…"

"Oh, well, we're moreso his acquaintances right now," Zeraora explained, folding her arms. "He's going to competing on a show we're doing."

"Ooh, so he's finally getting off his lazy ass," the Persian said in understanding as he started to exit the room. "Well, for his sake, he better hope that he wins. Machamp, come on. And take his laptop, we might as well try to get a bit of money out of him by selling that piece of shit…"

Machamp closed the window as he moved toward the laptop, picking it up before walking out behind the Persian. The two legendaries exchanged looks. Silvally shrugged, "They were cute at least…"

 **000**

Making their way out of the apartment, they saw that Swampert was groaning as he got out of the foliage next to the apartment.

"Swampert, did you really have to jump out of the window?" Silvally deadpanned.

"They would have kicked my ass," he replied, popping his back. "So, yes, I kinda did…"

"And you escaped by falling four stories and knocking yourself unconscious?" Zeraora replied.

Swampert blinked in response, making the electric-type sigh. "Let's just forget that ever happened," she said.

They noticed that were even more Pokemon than before surrounding the bus. The hosts groaned. "You've gotta be kidding me…" the electric-type groaned. "Maybe we should have just had them come to Littleroot…"

"Nah. It'll be fine," Silvally replied, nudging her with his snout. "We're doing something different and that's a good thing. What other show actually has the courtesy of picking up contestants and getting to know them a bit better beforehand? Just remember that we're doing something that no other show has done before. I'm sure you can get through a bit of publicity."

Hearing that, Zeraora sighed. "I suppose you're right," she replied, as they found themselves slowly being surrounded.

"Plus, once we start the game, the almighty bitch will make nearly everyone disappear," Silvally whispered, as he noticed that the other Pokemon were getting close. "So… it'll most definitely be fine."

Zeraora nodded.

"So… that's our bus, right?" Swampert spoke up in curiosity.

"Yep… and, by the looks of it, people heeded my warning," Zeraora said with a smile as she and Silvally started walking toward it.

Swampert followed the two of them, as the crowd began to cheer. It was strange, but also felt a bit good. The three of them entered the bus, with Swampert's eyes widening upon entering.

"WHOA!" he exclaimed. "This thing is epic!"

"Hey there," Pelipper greeted, raising a wing.

Swampert, seeing him and Spoink, gave them a small smile. "What's up?"

Silvally took a seat in his same spot as Swampert sat behind Spoink, lying across both seats, his back to the windows. Zeraora, gazing at her clipboard, sighed.

"Next point, Fortree City," she said to herself before grabbing the microphone. "Fortree City. 4538 Oakwood Lane…"

The bus slowly rose up, with Hoppip and Pelipper waving, and Swampert snoozing. As the bus took off toward Fortree City, the hosts once again tried to engage in conversation. However, upon seeing that the large mud fish was already asleep, they immediately turned their attention back to their first two competitors.

"So, did you two talk about anything while we were gone?" Silvally queried.

"Hmm… Not really," Spoink replied. "But, a bunch of people asked us what the bus was for and why Zeraora yelled at them."

"And… I take it that you guys told them," Zeraora said, a bit of annoyance in her voice, as she now understood why there was a larger crowd and applause when they entered the bus.

"Yep," Pelipper replied with a smile. "So, who are we going to get next?"

"We're leaving it up to surprise…" Silvally explained. "You'll learn soon enough…"

 **000**

An Ursaring slammed a Masquerain against a tree. "You think you can just come into my house and take _my_ shit?!"

The Masquerain, unlike most others would be in the situation, remained calm. "I didn't take anything," he replied. "Your wife invited me in, and I told her that the vase was ruining the ambience of the room. So, she let me take it. No fighting, no stealing, she literally handed it to me…"

"LIAR!" the Ursaring roared, attempting to swipe at the Masquerain. Masquerain ducked the attack before flying a fair distance away from the angry bruin.

"Why would I lie?" Masquerain queried. "Seriously, you could just ask your wife yourself!"

"I'm going to tear you a new-!"

The Ursaring didn't finish its threat, as it was struck by a vehicle, causing Masquerain to look away briefly. He chuckled, looking back forward. "Gotta love karma."

"Oh! Masquerain, you're already out. Good. You ready to go?"

"Completely," Masquerain replied, pleased by what just occurred. He flew toward the bus, entering the doors. Seeing who all was inside already, a small smile formed on his face.

"Hello," he greeted politely. "I look forward to competing with you guys and our fabulous hosts…"

Silvally smirked. "Hmph. You're damn right, I'm fabulous…"

Zeraora scoffed, rolling her eyes playfully as she got up and headed to the dashboard.

"Well, I have to say… you sure are a cutie," Masquerain said, sitting next to Spoink. She blushed. "Oh. T-Thanks…" she relied with a smile.

Masquerain smirked.

"Alright, looks like we've got three contestants living in Lavaridge Town, so we're going to be there for a while…" Zeraora explained.

"Ugh… great," Silvally groaned. "But, at least we'll be halfway finished with the pickup."

Zeraora nodded as she moved the contestants' information sheet to the front of the clipboard. "Better…" she stated as she grabbed the microphone. "Lavaridge Town. 7732 Burst Street."

The bus rose up off of the Ursaring, who groaned in pain. Masquerain, peering out of the window, chortled.

"So, Masquerain, what brings you on the show?" Silvally queried.

"Well, to win and have a valuable experience, of course. As well as get some camera time…" he explained. "Though, it's a wonder why I've never seen a handsome male like you hosting a show sooner."

Silvally chuckled, a faint blush appearing on his face. Zeraora smiled. "Oh, look, you're blushing and no Giratina in sight…"

"Ha ha…" Silvally replied. "Just because I love him doesn't mean I can't find other things attractive."

"Oh, is there another male already in the picture?" Masquerain queried, raising a brow.

"Ye-"

"No," Zeraora interrupted. "He's in love with Giratina, who is _happily_ married to Arceus. So, no male for him right now…"

"Well, if you're interested, I could give you some advice on how to win his heart. Or at least get you to engage in a brief sexual exchange," Masquerain offered.

"Wait, you know about winning guys' hearts?" Spoink queried.

Masquerain chuckled. "Well, as a bisexual male, I can offer advice to anyone, to be honest. Whether you choose to go with it or not will be up to you and your conscience."

"So, you could help me get laid by the man of dreams?" Silvally queried excitedly.

"Sil, if that ever happens, they will most definitely banish you to the Distortion World," Zeraora replied. "You know how serious they are about that kind of thing…"

"But Giratina would _want_ -"

"He's literally married to God. I doubt he'd give up _that_ type of relationship," Zeraora replied.

Silvally sighed, hearing her points. Of course, they were reasonable, making him feel less. Seeing his shift in expression, Zeraora walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. She didn't know if this would last long, but she knew how he got when he has that expression. " _Sil, I know how much you love Giratina, but you have to realize that as long as both he and Arceus are happy, things are not going to change. There are plenty of guys at the hall that you could try to hook up with or just have as casual… you know…"_ she whispered.

Silvally sighed. _"Yeah, but… it still sucks to think about."_

" _I know, but right now you have to put that behind you. We have a show to host and I don't want you being down in the dumps. I need you for this…"_

Taking a deep breath, Silvally nodded. "Okay. I'll try not to think about him."

Zeraora pat his back before deciding to stay next to him. Masquerain, as well as Spoink and Pelipper, wore confused and conflicted expressions, though Masquerain had more of an amused one. Swampert was still fast asleep as this short interaction occurred.

"Hey, we're here," Pelipper squawked as he noticed the bus flying over a new location.

 **000**

Lavaridge Town looked very mountainous from above, having brown, craggy land as its support for numerous buildings and houses. There was a stream of water through the town, which was noticed as the bus slowly descended.

Eventually, it started getting closer to the road and eventually began driving on it for a while. Doing numerous twists and turns, the bus eventually came upon a rather… shabby cottage. There were toys like frisbees and jump ropes strewn about the front yard, with a large tree next to it. The tree held a single ring swing, with a large tractor tire underneath it. There seemed to be broken beer bottles scattered about.

In front of the cottage, where a lot of noises were coming from, sat a lone Glalie who held an indifferent expression. The mailbox, with was halfway broken and dented, had the number 7732 on it, signifying that this was indeed the correct house.

Everyone's eyes widened, with the exception of Swampert, who was still sound asleep.

"Uh… is it wrong to say that I'm a bit nervous about being in this area?" Pelipper queried.

A muffled crash startled them all, as they looked back and saw that a brick was thrown from _inside_ of the house. The Face Pokemon looked at the brick and rolled his eyes before floating toward the bus, unsure of what it was.

However, upon closer inspection, and seeing who was starting to exit it, his expression didn't deter. "Huh. You guys are actually here. I expected to wait longer. Most hosts of these crappy shows are complete and total assholes, no matter what."

"Hey, don't be so quick to lump us in with the others," Silvally said as the ice-type floated into the bus.

Glalie, upon seeing what all the bus had to offer, grew a bit intrigued. "Hmm… Well, we'll just have to see about that, won't we?"

"GLALIE!" they all heard through the still open doors.

Glalie groaned, already knowing who the voice belonged to. "Just hurry up and drive…"

An Abomasnow, stumbling drunkenly out of the house, walked toward the bus. Glalie, seeing this, huffed. "I said, DRIVE!"

"Uh, guys, I suggest that you do as the man asks. This guy doesn't seem too friendly," Spoink spoke up.

"Yeah, definitely," Zeraora said, closing the bus doors and going to the microphone. "Lavaridge Town. 5094 Pinecrest Avenue…"

The Abomasnow ended up making to the bus as a Froslass, three Snorunt, another Glalie, and a Cofagrigus floated out of the house. "IF YOU DUN WIN… DUN E-EVEN THINK 'BOUT COMIN' BACK, YOU WORTHLESS WASTE OF SPERM!" the Abomasnow slurred before breaking the bottle against the bus.

The bus rose up seconds later, making Zeraora growl. "Of fucking course!" she exclaimed.

"Love you, too, dad…" Glalie deadpanned as the bus flew off.

 **-000-**

"So, Glalie, uh…"

"If you're going to ask about my family, don't bother. They're all pieces of shit," Glalie replied. "Dad's a drunk abuser, mom's a bitchy whore, sister's a slut, her boyfriend's a disrespectful cunt, and the twins are devils…"

"Jeez, that… sucks," Pelipper commented.

"No shit…" Glalie responded, giving the Water Bird Pokemon a look of irritation. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to just sit here and watch TV without distractions…"

"Oh," Silvally started. "Well, if you say so."

"Thank you very much…" Glalie replied monotonously as he just sat and watched the television.

Masquerain smacked his lips as he looked around the bus, scoping out the competition. So far, it seemed like he'd have a rather easy time. But, there were still eight more players to pick up, so he held his breath.

After a while, the bus parallel parked between a shabby greyish-blue car and a family van. The house they were next to was fairly average in nature, especially considering the houses beside it were similar in appearance, only a fainter color.

"Well, this certainly looks like a house out of a cheesy sitcom," Glalie acknowledged, gazing out of the window.

"Hey, you never know," Masquerain replied with a shrug.

Zeraora and Silvally stepped off of the bus, leaving the six competitors in the bus to socialize, if they saw fit, anyway.

 **000**

The hosts stepped up to the door, with Zeraora knocking three times. After waiting a few minutes, an elderly looking Sableye, having wrinkles covering its purple body, answered the door.

"Yes? Can I help you?" it asked, its voice identifying it as a female.

"Oh, hello ma'am," Silvally greeted. "Um, we were wondering if a Numel lived here…"

"Yes, she does. What do you need with her?" it asked suspiciously.

"Nana, it's okay," the hosts heard a feminine voice say as a small orange camel with a greenish tint on its hump and tired eyes made its way forward with a smile. "They're from the show I signed up for."

"Oh. How splendid…" the Sableye replied, wrapping an arm around the camel's neck. "Well, I wish you all the best, honey."

"Thanks Nana," Numel replied, nuzzling the dark- and ghost-type, before walking out toward the bus sitting out front. "I'll see you later."

"Take care. Don't hurt yourself!" the Sableye replied as Silvally and Zeraora started walking back to the bus.

"I won't!" Numel replied with a smile before entering the bus, with Silvally and Zeraora following suit. Once she got seat, she waved to the Sableye, who waved back.

Zeraora grabbed the microphone in order to get them to their third and final location in Lavaridge Town. Glancing at her clipboard, she stated, "Lavaridge Town. 6996 Bellewood Lane…"

After a few seconds, the bus lifted from the ground, high enough to miss the cars, before flying off.

 **-000-**

"Alright Numel, what brings _you_ to the show?" Silvally queried. "Actually, I've asked that enough. What would you do if you won?"

"Oh, I don't mind answering both," Numel replied chipperly. "I'm actually here to get out and meet new people like they do on other shows. And… I don't really have a plan for the money. I'd probably help pay the bills in me and my Nana's house."

Glalie huffed. "Why not just buy another house in another city if your goal is to meet knew people? I'm pretty sure Lilycove City and Mauville City have hundreds of people living there."

"Hmm… that could actually work, too. But, my Nana's been living in that same house since she was a little girl. I don't know if she'd be willing to part with it…"

"Then… I dunno… maybe move out on your own?" Glalie replied. "That's what I'm doing when I win. Or, _if_ I win, which I'm obligated to say so that I don't look like a conceited prick…"

"Oh no, given your home life, my friend, feel free to be as confident as you want," Masquerain commented.

"Hey, I already know that my family is shit. I don't need any pity," the Face Pokemon replied, giving him a look before glancing back up at the television hanging in front of his seat.

"Well, I thought about it," Numel said, getting the conversation back on track. "I'm just unsure about how she'll take it."

"I'm sure she'd be fine with it," Spoink chimed in. "From what I saw, you two have a really good relationship."

"Yeah," Pelipper agreed, turning back to face her.

Numel sat in thought, the options playing in her mind. "Hmm… Well, I'm not gonna get my hopes up, so I'll just wait and see how far I'm able to get."

"Having that attitude will put a larger target on your back. Underdogs always get far…" Glalie stated, his eyes focused on the television. "I've analyzed a bunch of these shows and more often than not, the players who are small, unsuspecting, or do jack shit almost always make it to the merge because stronger players think they'll be easy to take down."

"Well, maybe that'll change. You never know," Spoink replied. "Only half of us are here at the moment."

"We'll see…" Glalie replied.

 **000**

A shapely, red and yellow fowl was seen stepping out of the shower. A majority of her body was red, with yellow, beige and gray accents. She had a V-shaped crest on her head, and blue eyes with yellow sclerae. She was a Blaziken. However, unlike others, her beige hair feathers were actually curly rather than simply straight, with a couple of curls extending between her crest.

Grabbing a towel, she headed into her bedroom, just as her cell phone began to ring on her black dresser. Walking over, she put on a pair of small reading glasses and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she spoke as she walked over to her bed.

"Okay, that's great. Tell him mommy said 'Hi' and that she loves him…" she replied. "And… thanks again for looking after him…"

A few seconds later, Blaziken giggled. "I guess."

Just then, there was a knock at her door. "Oh, I gotta go. I think this is my pickup. And I just got out of the shower…"

"Thanks. Alright… bye," she responded before hanging up the phone and heading to the door, still in her towel. She hoped that they'd give her a few minutes to actually get decent.

The Blaziken walked into her living room, which consisted of a large sofa and a sofa chair. There was a maple wood television station that held a 68'' plasma screen. There was a gray exercise ball, and six baby blue weights next to it and a blue mat in front of it, in the middle of the room.

She walked to the door just as the knocking began again. Opening the door, she was met with smiles from Silvally and Zeraora. "Hello," she giggled before looking down at herself. "Um, as you can see, I'm not _completely_ ready, but if you want to come in and wait for a few minutes, you're free to."

Zeraora, looking back at the bus, which was slowly getting surrounded, sighed. "I'm gonna go back to the bus. We've been having bad experiences with people, so I'm just gonna be on guard."

"Yeah, I'll come in and wait," Silvally replied with a firm nod.

Zeraora walked back down the stairs in front of the Blaze Pokemon's house to look over the bus and wave away the Pokemon that were surrounding it.

 **-000-**

Inside, Silvally looked around, noticing all of the exercise equipment. He grew intrigued and interested; she was definitely going to be a good contestant. After a few minutes, Silvally heard the carpet shuffles, signalling that she was coming back.

"Alright I'm ready," Blaziken said, hand on her hips.

Seeing her, Silvally was shocked at her figure. "Wow, you've got those _child bearing_ hips! And good muscle tone to boot…"

Blaziken giggled upon hearing that. "Thanks. A lot of guys keep telling me that, and I just tell them to go to the gym to find other girls like me…"

Silvally chuckled as he started heading to the door. "Nice…"

"Oh, can I bring my phone? Just in case something happens to my son while he's at my sister's?"

"Oh, sure. Feel free to bring whatever as long as it isn't deadly, or will aid in cheating," Silvally explained. "Also, congrats. You're the first person to ask that."

Blaziken smiled before heading back to her room to retrieve her phone.

 **-000-**

Exiting the house, Silvally proceeded to the bus, while Blaziken made sure to lock her house door. She looked around, noticing that a group of Scrafty and Scraggy was eyeing her. Giving them a death glare, she made the 'slitting throat' motion before entering the bus.

Seeing her, Pelipper and Masquerain both blushed, but remained silent, while Swampert and Glalie both ignored her, as the former was still asleep and the latter was too invested in the crime-drama playing on the television screen to care about the shapely chicken.

"Wow, this bus is massive _and_ awesome!" Blaziken marveled, looking around.

"Thanks," Zeraora responded.

"You're really pretty," Spoink complimented Blaziken, who only giggled in response.

"Thanks, and you're cute," she replied, folding one leg over the other as the hen began typing on her phone.

"Wait, we could have brought electronics?!" Numel exclaimed. "I just got a new DS and Super Brawl Brothers Max!"

"Blaziken was the only one who asked about electronics," Silvally replied.

"Yeah, and they didn't say anything about me having my treasure hunting gear," Spoink said, gesturing to her backpack.

Numel groaned. "And it's too soon to go back? We're still in Lavaridge!" she pleaded.

Zeraora let out a sigh, giving Silvally a look. "Fine, but just you. We have to go back to Mossdeep and pick up Volbeat anyways."

 **-000-**

After going back to pick up Numel's portable game system, the pickups continued normally. And, as they headed to Fallarbor Town, they all began speaking to Blaziken to try and get to know her a bit better.

"So, Blaziken, given your physique, I think it's safe to say that you like to work out…" Zeraora marveled at, holding a friendly smile.

"Yep," Silvally answered. "She had weights and an exercise ball in her living room."

Blaziken smiled. "Yes. I'm actually a fitness instructor at my gym, so working out and keeping myself in shape is something that I pride myself in."

"Does that mean you only eat those protein shakes and vegetable smoothies?" Numel queried.

"Oh-no. I may be about fitness, but I'm still a sucker for sweets. And I still eat normally; it's just all about moderation," Blaziken explained.

"Yeah, I say that because I like to work out as well and I really like what you've done for yourself," Zeraora complimented.

"Oh really? Well, if I had known that, I would have brought some of my weights with me. We could've been workout buddies," Blaziken stated.

"Well, I have some back in my room. I'd just have to get my boyfriend to bring them to me," Zeraora said, blushing at the word boyfriend.

Silvally also chuckled at that.

Soon enough, Glalie groaned. "Movie started off interesting, ended up being cliche as all shit at the very end," he remarked in irritation. "Where's this pus bus heading now?"

"Pus bus?" Pelipper queried. "Never heard that before."

"Well, we're heading to… 1376 Houston Road in Fallarbor Town to pick up the next player," Zeraora replied. "And then, there are… four more stops before we can actually get you all settled in and start."

"Hmm… alright, I'll give you points for having actual, visual preparations," Glalie replied. "Most of these other shows have dumbass hosts that say they have everything covered, with nothing backing it up. Good on you."

"Thanks," Silvally replied, silently getting annoyed at Glalie already. Why couldn't the Face Pokemon get that not _every_ show was the same?

 **000**

A fossil Pokemon, an Armaldo, was walking back toward her house with a bag of groceries in her hand. Her house was rather average looking as well, only being a blue color with a white roof, door, and windows. She had a front porch with shrubs in front of it and no car. She opened the door of her house and entered it.

She walked past a large television screen that was hanging on the wall and let out a sigh as she placed her groceries on the table. "Okay, now if I can just-"

"Ah, Armaldo," a voice said as the screen emitted a light.

The Plate Pokemon groaned to herself before turning to the monitor. There was a Beheeyem and Watchog looking at her, both of them wearing white lab coats.

"Hello," she responded, deadpan.

"How did the grocery shopping go? Nothing bad happened, right?" the Watchog, a female, asked in concern.

"No. I got what I wanted," Armaldo replied, going over to the bag and pulling out a box of powdered doughnuts.

The two Pokemon on the screen sighed.

"Beheeyem, we talked about this. You can't just live off of powdered doughnuts. You need to eat actual, filling meals. Not junk…" Beheeyem stated.

"Hey, you guys _just_ resurrected me a month ago. I feel like I'm capable of going out and about without you telling what to do twenty-four seven."

Suddenly, there was knocking at her door, something that Beheeyem and Watchog were not expecting. Armaldo smiled softly. She had thought that they came earlier and left without her, but she was dead wrong.

She giddily rushed to the door, opening it and revealing the two hosts standing behind it. "Yes!"

"Uh… Armaldo, who are th-" Beheeyem gasped upon seeing that they were legendaries. And that meant one of two things. Either she used her laptop in a kinky chat room or-

"No. I forbid it! You are NOT competing on one of those legendary shows! Everything about them is dangerous, cancerous, unintelligible, moronic, despicable, sadistic, the list goes on and on!"

"Well, too bad. I'm going, and there's nothing you can do about it," she teased as she walked out of the house, with both legendaries exchanging looks of confusion. They heard the Beheeyem and Watchog's pleas and shouts for her to come back, but Armaldo pushed forward, getting on the bus. Silvally slowly closed the door, feeling very awkward about the situation.

The two of them stood outside the door for a few seconds.

"I feel very bad for some reason…" Zeraora stated.

"Yeah, same here," Silvally agreed, feeling. "Let's get away…"

 **-000-**

The two of them swiftly boarded the bus, again, with Silvally taking a seat and Zeraora manning the dashboard.

"Armaldo… what the hell was that?" Silvally queried, looking back at the rock- and bug-type.

Armaldo was admiring the bus' components, as well as the passengers aboard it. She never rode in any type of vehicle before. She always either walked or Beheeyem teleported her places. Really, most of the time Beheeyem just teleports stuff to her. She hardly ever got to do anything by herself. At most, she went to nearby places like the park or grocery store, but other than that, she had no control.

"Armaldo!"

Hearing her name again, as she prepared to poke Swampert to see if he was dead, she turned to the chimera. "Hi! I'm _so_ glad you guys accepted me!"

"Yeah, and we're glad to have you," Zeraora said as she spoke into the microphone. "Verdanturf Town. 138 South Rocky Road…"

As she returned to her seat, Silvally questioned her once more. "So, what's the deal with the giant monitors and all of the cameras?"

Armaldo sighed. "My 'parents'. They resurrected me a month ago and they're treating me like a child when I'm literally older than both of them, but according to a modernity calculator, I'm twenty-four in this time. But even then, I'm still too fucking old to be treated like a prepubescent child…"

"Yeah… I mean, they're not even your real parents. They can't just treat you like you're their baby. All they did was give you life again. You don't owe them any- Oh wait, that sounds horrible," Numel started.

"Fuck 'em," Glalie stated simply. "They didn't create you; they just resurrected you. And, if you're acting like a functioning, modern Pokemon, I don't see why the fuck they're babying and sheltering you so much. Plus, you say you're twenty-four?"

"In this modern time period, yes," she replied.

"You're a full grown adult. You can do whatever you want!" Glalie exclaimed. "Just know that responsibility is going to be a major part of your life now and you should be set straight!"

"Yep, which is why my first goal was to get accepted here so I could get the fuck away from them. But, then again, they implanted a chip in my skull so they can track me, so I'm not really away from them _at all_ ," Armaldo replied. "I just hope that I win. I could get the surgery to remove the chip, find a better house and just live my life with as many powdered doughnuts as I wish…"

"Powdered doughnuts?" Blaziken started. "Hmm… I just prefer the glazed ones…"

"Oh, I like glaze, too. Powdered just sits easier on my stomach for some reason. It's weird," Armaldo replied.

"Attention beautiful people, I think we're close to Verdanturf…" Masquerain stated, peering through the looking glass and seeing a close city.

 **000**

A large blue, gray, and red dragon soared through the sky, flying above all of the buildings before reaching the forest surrounding the town. Slowly descending, she eventually flew down to an opening, where a cave was located.

Landing, it walked next to her mailbox to check it for anything. Seeing that there was nothing there, it growled. "Stupid mailman still hasn't brought me my package!" it growled, its voice identifying it as a female.

Whacking the mailbox with her tail, she proceeded toward her cave. "Hopefully these assholes will bring their asses so we can go ahead and get this stupid competition over with…"

After entering her cave, which surprisingly wasn't that barren, she nudged a stone in front of the doorway, using it as a door. Holes in the rock overhead provided her home with light. There was a generator standing in the corner of the cave with numerous extension cords running from it.

The Dragon Pokemon's cave home had a stone couch that also acted as a bed for her, with a functioning television sitting on a flat rock. She had another flat rock acting as a table, as there were a couple of empty pizza boxes sitting on it, as well as soda cups.

As she took a seat on her couch and used one of her claws to press the 'on' button on her remote. Her television didn't turn on. She attempted pressing the button six more times, having no results. Growling, she threw the remote against the wall, with the back flying out and causing the batteries to land on the ground. The remote landed on a pile of about twenty-nine other remote controls that were thrown by the dragon- and flying-type out of anger.

"Why do these remotes all act shitty when I leave?!" she exclaimed irritatedly.

Suddenly, a knock was heard. Getting up, she proceeded to the door, moving the large boulder out of the way, revealing… the mailman, who was a Smeargle.

"Package for-" the mailman didn't even finish,as Salamence grabbed the package and tossed it into her cave before blasting him with a Hyper Beam, sending him flying.

"Fucking late," Salamence commented before retreating back into her cave.

Just as she proceeded to move the boulder back, she caught sight of a bus flying down toward her. Seeing this halted her moving the boulder and she stepped back out, eyeing the vehicle as it landed in front of her.

A few seconds after it landed, Zeraora stepped out of the bus door. "Salamence?" she queried, not knowing if this was her father or not.

"Yeah," Salamence replied, walking up to the bus. "You're the one who sent the email, right."

"Yep," Zeraora replied. "So, come on in…"

Salamence, looking into the bus from the front, and seeing the type of Pokemon that were inside of it, huffed. "As if I'm going in there with a bunch of fucking invalids."

Looking up, she noticed the seats on the top of the bus. "I'll sit up there, thank you very much…"

She flew up, taking a seat on top of the bus. Seeing this, Zeraora shrugged. "Whatever you want…" she said as she entered the bus again.

 **-000-**

"What happened? Our scaly friend doesn't want to be around us?" Glalie queried.

"I guess not," Zeraora replied. "She's on top of the bus, though, so we still have her. As long as she feels comfortable."

"Whatever," Glalie replied, rolling her eyes.

Swampert flipped over onto his stomach, causing Spoink and Masquerain's seats to move a bit. This interaction led to the mud fish Pokemon groaning and slowly opening his eyes.

"Good morning, sunshine," Numel commented as Swampert sat up, rubbing his head.

He looked around, seeing the numerous new faces on the bus. "Wow. I must've been _really_ knocked out. I don't remember you all being on the bus…"

"Well, you've been asleep nearly the entire time you've been here, so… that'll happen," Silvally explained. "Maybe next time you won't jump out of a window and likely give yourself a concussion…"

"Hardy har har. It just so happens that long vehicle rides make me tired," Swampert replied, folding his arms. "So, how many more stops do we have?"

"Uh… after we get our next player from the town, we have to head to Mauville, Kirikiri Mountain, and then back to Mossdeep," Zeraora explained. "You think you can stay awake that long?"

Swampert gave her a look.

"Alright, just checking," Zeraora teased as she grabbed the microphone from the dashboard.

"46-"

"Don't… finish that," she heard a voice say as she turned her head to the door and saw a Cacturne standing there.

This startled her, as she nor Silvally expected it. The Cacturne boarded the bus, passing by everyone and simply sitting in the back.

Zeroara and Silvally, as well as the other competitors, were completely shocked, excluding Glalie, who had a feeling that a contestant of Cacturne's caliber would be chosen.

Zeraora looked at her clipboard and back at Cacturne. "Uh, Cacturne… How did you know where we were?"

"That's none of your concern," the Scarecrow Pokemon replied tonelessly. "Just know that your email alerted me not remain at my home and find you as soon as possible."

"But, how did you know-"

"I _said_ that it's none of your concern," she repeated, in much sterner tone as she folded her arms.

"Hmph, somebody has issues," Blaziken muttered to herself, looking out of the window.

"I heard that," Cacturne replied, turning to the hen. "And I suggest you mind your own business. You don't know, nor do you _want_ to know, what I'm capable of."

"And on _that_ note, let's just keep it moving," Silvally spoke up.

Blaziken huffed, rolling her eyes. She was stronger than the grass- and dark-type in the physical aspect _and_ type aspect; she wasn't worried.

"Alright, time for Mauville," Zeraora spoke. "Mauville City. 3044 Crimson Road."

After a few seconds, the bus began rising up before it flew off, heading toward Mauville City.

"So, what do you guys think the challenges are going to be like?" Armaldo queried the group.

"Most likely the same unoriginal, pain-driven drivel that all of these shows have," Glalie commented. "If they prove me wrong, I'll probably change my thoughts."

"Do you have to be so negative?" Numel queried. "You don't know what they're capable of…"

"Oh please. I'm sure that you've all seen these shows. Everyone acts the exact same way. The hosts are either idiotic or sadistic and the challenges are almost always random, stupid, or only created to cause harm to the competitors," Glalie replied.

"That's a pretty close-minded generalization," Swampert spoke. "I've seen shows where the hosts are nice and the challenges aren't that bad."

"Yes, but those are usually dull and lack charm," Glalie explained. "Therefore, the negatives outweigh the positives."

"You must be a riot at parties…" Masquerain commented sarcastically.

"I was never invited to any parties, so that means nothing to me," Glalie replied.

"Well, how about we actually let the competition start before any foul judgments are made?" Cacturne suggested, staring out of the window.

"Freedom of speech is a thing, but… I guess I can actually wait before picking you all apart," the Face Pokemon stated.

"Joy…" Blaziken said, rolling her eyes.

 **000**

A purple and yellow Pokemon with numerous pipes covering its body walked outside of a large hotel. It walked toward a bench outside the large building and took a seat, waiting to be picked up.

Numerous Pokemon were walking by. Some going into the hotel, and others leaving. Eventually, one Pokemon, who was familiar with the Exploud, came from the hotel and sat down. The Pokemon, a Tangrowth, sat next to her.

"Uh… well, good luck on the show," it said sheepishly.

Exploud sighed. "You just dumped me, you asshole. I don't need your luck."

"Look, you know that I don't like arguing with you, so just accept it," Tangrowth replied. "I'm sorry that I'm a pacifist who actually respects you…"

"Just… Just fuck off. You're starting to piss me off even more," Exploud replied, giving him the hand.

The Tangrowth obliged, rising up and walking away, leaving Exploud alone. Tangrowth just couldn't handle her personality, which was disappointing to her, as he was a great lover and listener. Exploud's main problem was that she escalates situations too far; she loved to argue and come out on top. It isolated her and made her lose a lot of friends there in Mauville, so there she was.

Eventually, looking up, the Loud Noise Pokemon saw a vehicle flying down toward her. This caused a bit of a commotion, as no one in the city knew what was going on. Exploud, seeing Zeraora open the doors, waved.

"Hey! Hurry up and get on the bus!" she heard. Looking up, she saw Salamence glaring down at her. "I'd rather not just sit around…"

"Then go to sleep. You don't need to give your input," Exploud replied, stepping into the bus, leading Salamence to growl at her.

 **-000-**

Exploud, entering the bus, was astounded by its size and features, similar to the others. "Wow, you guys must have paid an arm and a leg for this…"

"No, no body parts were sold to afford this. This was paid for by another," Zeraora said, moving to the dashboard.

"Nice…" Exploud said, sitting behind Blaziken. "Also, hi…" she greeted.

"Hello," Spoink greeted back with a smile.

"How's it going?" Swampert asked, his eyes focused on the television.

"Things are fine," Exploud replied. "Just a bit anxious for the game to start."

"Well, it's almost five o'clock, so by the time everyone is picked up, it'll be too late," Glalie spoke. "So, it'll likely be tomorrow.

"Wait, it's almost five o'clock already?!" Silvally exclaimed. "I could have sworn that we've only been at this for a couple of hours! Jeez, time really _does_ fly when you're not paying attention to it _…"_

"Well, we're about to head to the next location," Zeraora commented, turning to the microphone.

She heard knocking on the bus doors. Turning, she saw a bunch of Pokemon holding cameras and taking pictures.

"Oh Arceus, dammit!" Zeraora exclaimed as she grabbed the microphone. "Mauville City. 1776 East Hollow Street."

The bus floated up before flying away from the hotel, leaving numerous curious Pokemon behind.

 **-000-**

"It's nice that some of you were already ready for us," Silvally remarked.

"Well, your email wasn't exactly specific with the times," Armaldo replied. "That's why I was unsure if you guys had already come by my house or not…"

"Told ya to include times," Silvally said with a playful smirk, looking to Zeraora, who rolled her eyes.

"So, you guys aren't going to be like all of the other hosts that do these shows are you?" Exploud queried.

"Finally! Someone else who has doubts and concerns!" Glalie spoke up, making Silvally mentally groan.

"To answer your question, no. We're not going to try to be assholes, but then again, that's up to interpretation," Zeraora replied. "We could be nice, but you could still think we're assholes for… whatever reason."

"True…" Exploud replied. "Though, would you two say that it's warranted or needed, given your comrades' popularity?"

"Oh please. If these two become assholes, that'll lump this show in with the rest of the generic, unwatchable, torture-porn," Glalie replied. "Seriously, nearly every show does the same shit and gets popular for some reason. Seriously, have you seen that show with Mew and Victini as hosts?"

"I have," Exploud said with a shrug.

Everyone else either shook their heads or shrugged.

"Well the rest of you are lucky. That is quite literally the worst series I've had the displeasure of watching. Literally, the hosts are assholes, the challenges are ludicrous and repetitive, the competitors are idiotic, dickish, uninteresting, and childish. I'd rather gouge out my own eyes than be forced to watch that shit again…"

Zeraora and Silvally exchanged looks before looking back at him, as everyone else stared at him. Eventually, Swampert spoke up.

"Sheesh, what is with you?" Swampert queried. "You sound like one of those assholes who talk shit about good or decent movies online…"

"Again, freedom of speech," Glalie replied. "And, I'm a critic, so… it's literally my job."

Masquerain chortled. "That explains it…"

"Yep, I review TV, food, movies, construction… anything," he explained. "I usually post them online and made a lot of people hate me, but it's whatever, I still get paid…"

"So… what? Are you just here to heckle them?" Cacturne queried.

"I won't have to do anything if I end up enjoying myself," Glalie replied, looking back at her.

"And on another note, we're coming up to a strip club…" Blaziken said, gazing out of the window .

 **000**

Everyone looked out of the windows on the left of them and saw that they were, indeed, parked in front of a strip club. There was a red carpet with a velvet rope in front of the door.

Zeraora and Silvally looked at each other before Zeraora checked her clipboard again. "This can't be right…"

Suddenly, they noticed the doors swing open and a Zoroark was thrown out by a Hariyama, hitting a car that was parked in front of it.

"Ha. Strip clubs are shit anyway. He deserved that," Glalie commented.

"Huh… looks like this _is_ the right place," Zeraora stated, shuddering at the thought of going into the club. "Uh… I don't really like the look of this…"

"Don't worry, I'll take one for the team…" Silvally groaned as he got up, proceeding to the door while grumbling.

"Hmph. He knows that he's gonna enjoy going in there…" Exploud commented.

Zeraora shrugged. "He's gay, but hates these places, so maybe he'll just like seeing the guys watching…"

 **-000-**

Silvally entered the 'Kitty Kastle', a shivering running up his spine. To him, strip clubs were dirty, odorous, disease ridden, drug infested wastelands full of horny men with nothing better to do. Entering the swinging doors, the chimera found himself in a hallway illuminated by a red light.

There were three posters hanging on the wall. One of a Liepard with her underwear halfway off, the second was a Lopunny posing suggestively, and the third was a Gardevoir doing a split while holding onto the pole.

Silvally just shook his head as he walked to another door at the end of the hallway. Walking through it, he immediately found himself being nearly deafened by the loud pop music being played. Numerous female Pokemon were seen dancing, twerking, grinding on male patrons, twirling on poles, and of course, stripping.

Given that only a few Pokemon actually decide to wear clothes and are considered weirdos for doing so, this made little sense to him. So, he only shook his head as he watched the mindless males toss their money to the naked and semi-naked girls.

Looking around, Silvally caught the sight of the Hariyama that tossed out the Zoroark earlier. He was currently picking up a Golem that was trying to climb up on stage. Seeing this, Silvally smirked and decided to wait. Luckily for him, the guys and girls were too busy disrespecting themselves to notice his presence.

As the Hariyama carried the Golem to the door, Silvally followed him.

"And… STAY OUT!" Hariyama exclaimed as he threw the Golem at the same car as the one he threw the Zoroark toward.

Dusting his palms off, Hariyama stepped back in, only to notice the equally tall legendary staring at him. This startled him, making him jump back slightly. "Whoa. Don't sneak up like that!"

"Hey, I was following you from in there," Silvally replied nonchalantly.

"Yeah, but still…" Hariyama replied as he started walking past him, before pausing. "Wait, you're from-"

"Yes, we're here to get you," Silvally explained. "And uh… might I ask why you asked us to pick you up from a strip club?"

"I just knew that I'd have to work today. I wanted to put this place _and_ my home addresses, but I ended up just putting the one that I was more like to be located," Hariyama explained. "Plus, I ain't know when you were actually gonna make it. My shift ends in like… two hours..."

Silvally sighed. "You didn't request a day off or _anything_?"

"I tried, but my boss is an ass," he replied. "As long as he's making money, he doesn't care about personal lives. Hell, one of the strippers' grandmother passed away and he threatened to fire her if she went to the funeral on Saturday!"

"Jeez…"

"Yeah… He sucks," Hariyama explained.

"Then come on," Silvally replied. "Being in this likely disease-ridden place is bad for you. Fuck this place. Come on."

Hariyama sighed. He was unsure about what to do. This was the only job he had and if he lost the competition, he would have nothing. But, then again, his boss was an asshole anyway, so was it really worth it?

 **-000-**

A few of the competitors, along with Zeraora, were outside of the bus, waiting for Silvally to return with the next competitor.

"What the hell is taking so long?!" Salamence growled agitatedly as she sat on the top of the bus.

"Oh, I almost forgot that you were up there," Spoink commented, looking up on top of the bus.

"Fuck off!"

"And that is why it is a good thing…" Glalie deadpanned.

"You wanna go, soccer ball!?" Salamence growled, not taking insults lightly.

"Give respect and it shall be returned… unless I don't feel like it," Glalie replied before floating back into the bus.

Salamence huffed. "Wuss…"

"Where _is_ he? We need to get a move on…" Zeraora stated, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Maybe he became a stripper himself?" Armaldo queried.

"No," Zeraora replied. "He wouldn't d-"

Before she could finish, she saw her co-host exit the club, with the Arm Thrust Pokemon, hariyama, in tow.

"Finally!" she sighed in relief as Spoink, Armaldo, Numel, and Swampert went back into the bus.

"About fucking time, asshole!" Salamence yelled down at him and Hariyama.

"Hello Hariyama," Zeraora greeted.

"'Sup," he replied as he entered the bus.

Zeraora turned to her co-host once the fighting-type was in the large vehicle. "What took so long?"

"Well, I had to stop him after he threw that Golem out, and he explained why we're here instead of at his house," Silvally explained. "Then, he was scared of leaving because he was worried that his boss would fire him because he said he couldn't get a day off. I _really_ had to convince him to come."

Zeraora pat his shoulder. "Well, you got him, and went into a place you hate. How do you feel?"

"Dirty…" Silvally replied simply. "Dirty and disgusted…"

"And yet you'd strip for Giratina in a heartbeat…"

"Hey, that's different. It'd be at the hall," the Synthetic Pokemon replied. "Not at a dirty, pathetic place like this. And I was trying not to think about him anymore like you said!"

"Oh, right… sorry," the electric-type replied with a giggle.

Silvally huffed. "Let's just go…" he said as he boarded the bus again.

"About time!" Salamence growled as Zeraora entered the bus.

 **-000-**

"So, Silvally, did you enjoy yourself~?" Blaziken teased.

"Of course not! It's one of the worst places ever!" the chimera exclaimed. "Nothing but girls with no self-respect getting naked in front of a bunch of horny guys with better things to do. Porn exists for a reason, damnit!"

"Well, sometimes girls become strippers because they feel like they won't amount to anything, or it's a last resort for money…" Exploud explained. "And uh… porn features the same thing as strip clubs. People getting naked. Only this time, they're actually fucking, making it _worse_ than strip clubs."

"I once googled 'Water sports' for a school project, but I didn't have SafeSearch on, so I saw… very weird, explicit things…" Numel spoke up. "It's still burned in my brain."

"Might as well just say the internet as a whole is an awful thing since it _features_ naked girls 85% of the time…" Glalie chimed in.

"I can attest to that…" Swampert stated, raising a hand.

"Are we seriously talking about porn right now?" Cacturne spoke, giving all of them looks of indifference.

"I really wish you guys weren't. We have two more stops and we'll be ready to go," Zeraora spoke up as she grabbed the microphone. "Kirikiri Mountain."

The bus began to lift from the ground, making Salamence scoff. "Finally! What the fuck are those losers even talking about that wastes so much time?"

 **000**

"So, Hariyama, what made you start working at a strip club, anyway?" Zeraora queried.

"Well, as a bouncer, I get to watch the girls for free, get free drinks, and beat the shit out of idiots who try to touch the girls sexually," Hariyama explained. "I specifically enjoy when the idiots fight back. It's even more entertainment."

"What do you know? It's an aggressively horny man's dream job," Glalie stated.

"Hey, I'm not aggressively horny. That's a rapist," Hariyama replied. "My aggression and horniness are two separate emotions."

Blaziken gave him a look, which Hariyama noticed, making him blush and look away. She rolled her eyes.

"I'm just gonna uh… watch TV," Hariyama spoke up, looking up at the television screen hanging in front of his seat.

"So, where does everyone else work?" Numel queried. "I don't really have a job."

"Uh, I'm an accountant, if that's significant to anyone," Pelipper explained.

"It's not really a job, but you know, I'm a treasure hunter…" Spoink spoke up.

"Jobless and proud," Masquerain chortled.

"Same," Swampert said, his arms folded.

"I already said my piece earlier and I won't be repeating…" Glalie stated brashly.

"And I plead the fifth," Cacturne followed, staring out of the window.

"Like I said before, I'm a fitness instructor at my gym," Blaziken spoke up. "But, sometimes I'm a personal trainer, too."

"How much do you charge?" Hariyama queried upon hearing that.

"Self-respect," Blaziken replied, folding her arms. "It's not _that_ type of personal training…"

"I knew that! It was a genuine… Ugh, nevermind..." Hariyama groaned as he focused back on the television.

 **-000-**

The bus flew in the direction of a mountain. Once it was close enough, it slowly descended to the base of it. There was a black and white doll floating in front of numerous cave entrances.

As the bus landed, Salamence immediately growled. "Are you competing on a show?"

"Yes…" the Claydol responded in a somber tone.

"Then come on, you fuck. We don't have all day," Salamence stated irritatedly

The Claydol sighed as he floated toward the bus just as Zeraora wasleaving it to greet him. "I'm in your competition…" said in his same dismal tone. "Let's get this inevitable pain over with…"

He floated into the bus and headed toward the back without saying another word.

"Uh… Alright, then," Zeraora said.

"HURRY THE HELL UP ALREADY, THIS IS BORING AS ALL SHIT!"

"THEN BRING YOUR ASS _INSIDE_ OF THE BUS!" Glalie shouted back.

"OKAY, YOU ARE _REALLY_ GETTING ON MY NERVES!" Salamence growled as she sudden swooped down from the roof and entered the bus, glaring daggers at Glalie.

"Could ya calm down-"

"SHUT UP, TOILET!"

"Okay…" Pelipper replied, looking down.

Salamence then turned her attention to Glalie, who, like a few others, were unfazed by her yelling. This was just her being immature, in their opinions.

"Could ya turn your volume down and stop yelling?" Swampert asked. "You're not doing anything but proving that you're an immature bitch."

"You don't… know me," she growled at him.

"You're giving me all that I need to know right now…" he replied, making Salamence glower at him.

"Now, if you'd kindly sit down and shut up," Glalie continued. "We have one more stop and we can actually start, so just stop…"

Salamence, looking around and seeing that the only ones showing any real fear were Pelipper, Armaldo, and Numel, growled to herself before walking forward and sitting in front of the Face Pokemon.

"Fucking bastard…"

"That's better," Glalie responded, turning to the hosts. "Alright, next destination, please?"

"On it," Silvally nodded as he looked to Zeraora, who was already next to the microphone.

"Mossdeep City. 2375 Foghollow Drive…" she said with a confident, ready smile.

The bus rose up and started flying away, leaving nearly everyone curious about Claydol. His somber tone rose questions, though that should have been a warning.

 **-000-**

"So… Claydol, what's up?" Silvally greeted as almost everyone looked back at the Clay Doll Pokemon.

"The sky, clouds, people's hopes..." Claydol drawled.

"Why the hell do you sound so depressing?" Salamence asked, raising a brow.

"Life. It sucks ass," Claydol responded.

"Then… why join the game if you think that?" Armaldo queried in confusion. "Don't things like this lead to suicide or something?"

Everyone turned to Armaldo with wide eyes, which in turn confused her. "Did I say something?"

"She's not wrong. It does happen," Claydol drawled as all eyes went back to him.

"Uh… I'm sorry, but what brought this about in you?" Zeraora asked in concern.

"All the world has to offer us in inevitable pain and death, so what's the point of being happy?" Claydol queried.

"To find good in the world and find joy despite what's bound to happen," Numel answered.

"Everything in the world is shit, though," Claydol explained. "Concrete causes injures, trees give splinters and steal carbon dioxide from us, people are selfish pricks who only look out for what's best from them, the sky brings about different weather that people dislike, cars and other vehicles produce gas that destroys the ozone layer, food is always unhealthy or tastes like shit in some ways…"

"Okay, we get it… You dislike everything," Cacturne spoke up, growing irritated at the ground- and psychic-type's tone and listing. "If you're not gonna show a sliver of positivity or neutrality, just sit there and stay quiet. I'm sure it'd be appreciated…"

Claydol didn't say another word after that and everyone exchanged unnerved looks.

 **000**

At 6:49 PM, the bus made it to the same strip of houses that the hosts and Spoink arrived at in order to get Volbeat. The Firefly Pokemon's door looked fixed, meaning that he was most likely ready to go.

"Alright, I'll go get Volbeat and then we'll head to Littleroot Town. We'll explain everything there and the competition will begin tomorrow," Zeraora explained as she started stepping off of the bus.

 **-000-**

The feline walked up to the door, knocking on it three times. After a few moments, the door opened, revealing Volbeat, who looked… pretty beat up. His antennae were tied together, he was bruised, his right eye was black, and his nose was a bit bloody.

"Volbeat… what happened?!"

The bug-type sighed. "About an hour after you guys left, I got my door fixed and I just sat in my house waiting for you guys to come back. Next thing I know, my door gets broken down again, and a Scolipede and Accelgor come in, with my ex-girlfriend behind them. They beat me up, stole my wallet, and left me on the floor. Them she spat on me and left."

"Ouch," Zeraora commented, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly.

"So, I had to go into my _safe_ , get money from _there_ , and they pay to get another guy to fix my door. Then, I just started waiting again…"

"Damn… sorry we couldn't have been here sooner. You wouldn't have gotten beat up," Zeraora said, feeling a bit responsible.

"No, no, if anything, it's my fault. I made her want to break up and she sliced my door down in the process the first time," Volbeat explained. "If that hadn't happened, I'd already be on the bus…"

"You sure you still wanna compete?"

"Of course!" Volbeat replied confidently. "Just because my ex got her brothers to beat me up doesn't mean I'm incapable of competing."

Zeraora giggled at this. "Good to hear. Let's get you on the bus so we can get this started."

Volbeat locked his door before closing it. He then flew toward the bus, with the electric-type behind him.

Upon entering the bus, Silvally's eyes widened upon seeing his condition, as did Spoink's and everyone else's.

"Hello everyone," he greeted, acknowledging the looks of concern he was getting. "I'm okay,don't worry…"

"W-What happened to you?" Spoink queried.

"This is what happens when your ex-girlfriend dumps you and tells your brothers to beat you up," Volbeat answered as he flew back and sat behind Pelipper.

"What'd you do to make that happen?" Exploud asked.

"I spoke to a female friend of mine over the phone who was having boyfriend troubles and she heard me saying joke things to her," Volbeat explained. "She took it seriously…"

"As any girl would…" Blaziken reasoned.

"She dumps you… then tells family members to beat you up?" Hariyama queried. "Ain't that supposed to be the other way around? Boy dumps girl, girl gets revenge?"

"Not this time…"

"Alright," Zeraora spoke up. "Let's get to Littleroot Town and we can begin."

A good amount of the competitors cheered.

 **000**

Littleroot Town was a rather large town with tall buildings and towels. There was also a port, giving the town a great ocean view.

The bus landed in a grassy section of the town, with two large lodges around, along with a truck with two trailers attached to it.

"And… we're here," Zeraora said as she opened the doors of the bus and stepped off, with Silvally following shortly after.

The fourteen competitors stepped off of the bus, admiring their location. The lodges looked really cozy and warm, being completely made of wood. They looked like they were two stories.

However, noticing the trailers, Glalie's expression dimmed.

"Uh, why are there trailers here?" the Face Pokemon queried. "We'd better not be using those instead of these lodges…"

"Well, we-"

"You have an enormous bus that can fly us to and fro… and two cozy looking cabins… yet you're going to make us sleep in fucking shitty-looking trailers?" Cacturne queried, raising a brow.

Silvally turned to Zeraora, "I actually _was_ thinking about that…"

Zeraora rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Well… I suppose that we can do it like Solgaleo and Lunala and just have a stable resting location…"

Almost everyone cheered at this.

"Now, about the show," Zeraora replied as she cleared her throat. "Welcome to Total Pokemon: Hoenn. You all have been selected to compete for the prize of 100,000 Poke. Now, similar to other shows that you may or may not have seen, you all will be competing in challenges. After each challenge,one by one, you will be eliminated by your fellow competitors."

"The last player standing wins it all and enters the TPI Hall of Fame," Silvally explained.

"Which only have two deserving winners over the span of twenty plus…" Glalie commented.

"Shh," Blaziken hushed, making Glalie roll his eyes.

"Now, ground rules. You all are adults, so we're not gonna stop you from doing...whatever. Just know that if a girl gets pregnant-"

"Both soon to be parents are eliminated," Pelipper finished.

"Correct," Zeraora spoke. "There is no killing allowed here, no matter how angry you get."

"But we _are_ allowed to fight, right?" Salamence queried.

"Why would you be so quick to ask that?" Numel queried.

Salamence sneered at her, making the Numb Pokemon swallow in nervousness.

"Yes, fighting is allowed. Just no murder…" Silvally replied.

"Alright, now, about the lodges…" Zeraora started. "The fridge is stocked every two weeks, there are three rooms, two with two beds and one with three."

"Oh joy… roommates…" Claydol drawled.

"There are also things inside such as a television, air conditioner, couches, and bathrooms," Zeraora continued.

"Nice!" Blaziken chirped, holding her hands together.

"And… When are we doing the challenges?" Hariyama queried. "Is there going to be a designated time?"

"Challenges are generally going to take place on Saturdays and Wednesdays…" Silvally explained. "That should give you enough break time between challenges."

"Those are… kinda weird days," Swampert remarked. "But, okay."

"And… since the trailers will no longer be the _main_ sleeping quarters, they can act as gender specific confessionals," Zeraora explained. "But, you can still sleep in there if you see fit."

"Cool!" Spoink cheered.

"Now, it's almost seven, so we're going to leave you all to your own devices and let you get to know each other," Silvally explained. "Also, the guys get the right lodge and the girls get the left. However, we don't care about where you guys decide to sleep."

"Good to know..." Masquerain commented.

"Now, you guys enjoy your first night and let's have a fun day tomorrow," Zeraora said as she and Silvally entered the bus.

A few of the contestants started going back to the lodges, with only a few staying to see the hosts off.

"Wait, what about teams?" Armaldo queried.

"Those will be established tomorrow, don't worry," Silvally said as the doors closed. A few minutes later, the bus rose up from the ground and vanished.

 **000**

The girls entered their lodge, with Blaziken being the first inside to scope out the place. Upon entering, she saw that, to her left, there was a living room area, with a step that led down to it. There were three, maroon couches organized in a square fashion, giving a good view of the large television hanging over the fireplace. There was a glass table sitting in the middle of the couches.

To the right, there was wooden table with four chairs sitting there. Looking forward on the right side, there was a small kitchen area. Curious, Blaziken headed over to the area to check it out.

A few of the other girls entered, admiring the coziness of the building. Well, a couple of them anyway.

"Whoa, this looks much better than how I pictured it," Exploud commented.

"I expected worse. Not disappointed at all," Cacturne stated, looking around.

"Hmph. Looks like shit, to me…" Salamence said brashly, pushing past the two girls and moving forward as Spoink, Numel, and Armaldo entered.

Once she was out of the way, Cacturne grumbled to herself. "She is _definitely_ going to be a pain in the ass."

"Well, I'll take her as a roommate," Exploud offered. "Maybe her bitchiness will lead her to want to sleep out in the trailers…."

"And what if it doesn't?" Cacturne replied, folding her arms.

"I was captain of the debate team in high school and college. I'm sure I can handle a girl with a piss-poor attitude," Exploud replied, folding her arms. "Plus, I can get much louder than her and shut her down."

"As long as you don't disrupt our sleep," Cacturne stated.

"Spoink, Armaldo, and I are gonna take the room with three beds," Numel said, walking past the two.

"Wait, what?" Cacturne asked. "That leaves me with…"

The Scarecrow Pokemon looked toward the kitchen, where she saw the shapely hen looking around the pantry. She sighed to herself.

"What's the matter?" Exploud asked, seeing Cacturne's reaction. "She seems nice."

"Well, I feel like she and I aren't going to really see eye-to-eye," Cacturne replied as they moved toward the back rooms. "I appeared next to the bus through means that I'm not obligated to tell you, and when I said that it was none of their concern of how I got there, she said I have issues. Then, I told her to mind her own business and… kinda threatened her."

"Ouch…" Exploud replied. "But, she heard the us talking about the rooms and didn't seem bothered. I don't think she cares anymore."

"She was distracted…" Cacturne reasoned. "Long story short, I don't think we're gonna be able to tolerate each other unless we decide not to speak to each other at all."

"Well, that's not gonna work if you guys end up on the same team…"

"I just have to hope that it's not the case…" Cacturne replied.

 **-000-**

"So girls, how do you feel so far?" asked Numel as she sat on her bed.

"I'll admit, I'm a bit nervous," Armaldo said. "Everyone here has their own complex personalities and I don't really know if I'll like some of them or not…"

"That's why you have to get to know others," Spoink said, unpacking her bag. She pulled out a metal detector with an extendable handle, headphones, a dowsing machine, a laptop, and a camera.

"Whoa…" Numel marveled. "That's a lot of stuff…"

"You never know what you're going to find," Spoink replied with a smile.

"What's the weirdest or best thing you've ever found?" Armaldo queried, seeing all of the equipment.

"Uh… the weirdest… probably a wallet full of condoms. Best? An idol that I sold for 400 Poke," Spoink explained.

"Wow, that's awesome," Numel commented. "The most money I've made in a day is 40 Poke…"

"That's still pretty good," Armaldo replied. "I just get money whenever because of my 'parents'. So, I've never made any money myself."

"Lucky…" Numel replied.

"No, not lucky. I want to be able to do things for myself," Armaldo explained. "That's another reason why I signed up for the show."

"Well, hopefully things go well for you…" Spoink said, bouncing onto her own bed.

"Yeah…"

Suddenly, faint sizzling was heard and a faint, delicious smell wafted throughout the lodge.

"Whoa… Something smells good in here all of a sudden…" Numel remarked, sniffing the air. Seconds later, her stomach growled, as did Spoink's and Armaldo's.

 **-000-**

Humming to herself as a pot simmered with oil and basil inside, Blaziken sliced a few pre-peeled potatoes that she found in the refrigerator. She was making herself some soup, as she hadn't eaten for hours. This was a recipe that her mother taught her when she was younger, so she knew exactly what she needed and what she could substitute.

She was thinking about making enough for everyone, but she didn't really want to be assigned as 'the cook' whenever the others got hungry. However, she knew that it'd be selfish, as she had a feeling the others hadn't eaten either. She hoped that they had, though.

Dumping the potatoes into the pot, she dusted of her hands as she picked up the salt and pepper shakes that were sitting on the counter.

She heard footsteps coming up front, which she expected, and soon enough, Spoink, Numel, and Armaldo made their presence known.

"Hey Blaziken. Whatcha cooking up here?" Numel asked. "I smells nice…"

The hen giggled. "It's just Potato Basil Soup. What _you_ smelled was just the butter and basil. I _just_ the potatoes in, so the smell should expand a bit," she said, putting salt and pepper into the mix.

"Uh… once you finish… could we have some?" Spoink asked sheepishly.

"Um… sure," Blaziken replied. "It should be enough…" she said, stirring the potatoes before reaching for the vegetable broth.

"Who the hell is cooking up here?" Salamence asked as she walked back to the front.

"Do you _always_ sound angry?" another voice asked, making Salamence narrow her eyes in annoyance. Exploud stepped forward before walking toward the table and taking a seat. "Anyways, Blaziken, that… smells great so far."

"Thanks," the Blaze Pokemon replied with a smile. "And, I'm guessing that you'll want some as well?"

"I mean… if you _insist…_ "

Blaziken playfully rolled her eyes.

"Well, you losers can eat that trash. I'll just take some… uh… Hey, what else do they have in the fridge and freezer?"

"Juice, soda, meat, fruit, vegetables, frozen pizzas…" Blaziken listed.

"Yeah! Pizza! Gimme that!" the Dragon Pokemon said, pushing past the girls and heading to the fridge. She opened the freezer side and pulled out a frozen pizza with her mouth. She closed the door with her tail before flying out of the kitchen and back to her and Exploud's room.

"I-Is she seriously going to eat it just like that?" Armaldo queried.

"Just let her do her…" Exploud said, waving her actions off.

"I wonder how the guys are doing in _their_ cabin," Spoink said.

 **000**

"I am _not_ rooming with the sad sack!" Glalie stated angrily. "There's no way in the Distortion World."

"Well, Swampert and Volbeat already agreed to be roommates, and Pelipper, Hariyama, and I agreed, too," Masquerain replied. "So, you don't really have an option unless you or Claydol sleep in the trailer."

"Oh great, so I risk either looking like an antisocial prick or an intolerant asshole…" Glalie drawled. "Joy…"

"Should've chosen faster," Masquerain replied as he flew out of the Face Pokemon's room.

Glalie looked back at Claydol, who was lying down in one of the beds. He groaned in annoyance before floating out.

The ice-type floated out to the front, where he saw Hariyama, Pelipper, Volbeat, and Masquerain watching a wrestling match on television while sitting on their dark blue couches. Meanwhile, Swampert was raiding the pantry and kitchen, checking what they had.

Glalie's stomach growled, making him sigh. "Hey Swampert, what food have they oh-so graciously provided us with?"

The Mud Fish Pokemon was looking with both the freezer and refrigerator doors open. "They've got some good things in here. There's jello, yogurt, frozen pizza, steaks, pork chops, bananas, drinks…"

Glalie rose a brow, floating over and seeing that he was correct. "Huh. I guess they really _are_ showing that they care."

"So, what do you guys think of the girls so far?" Volbeat queried.

"All I've gotta say is Blaziken has a fat ass," Hariyama stated. "She reminds me of the strippers at my job…"

"Meh, she's only here for sex appeal," Glalie reasoned. "All shows like this have either a male or female that fits that category. Though, I'll give her this. She actually has a _bit_ of personality compared to others I've seen on the show. Usually they just stand around, do jack shit, and make it far just because they look good or they're fucking someone who's bound to make it further."

"I say we give her the benefit of the doubt," Swampert said, a bit irritated at Glalie's attitude. "She's a fitness instructor and a personal trainer. I'm sure she has a bright personality…"

"Well, we'll have to see, now won't we?" Glalie responded.

"All I know is that I'm tired of Salamence already," Masquerain commented. "She's acts like such a bitch for no reason…"

"Hey, we don't really know if there's a reason or not. We'd have to get to know her fi-"

"Pelipper… Shush. Do you really think that she'll let _anyone_ get to know her?" Glalie responded. "Bitches like her always get the shaft early because they never provide any usefulness unless they're kicking someone's ass or kicking people while they're down. Even then, they don't give a reason, and when they do, it's the same sob story…"

Swampert held his tongue and just decided to head back to his room, not wanting to hear Glalie's over-analytical tangents. He grabbed a bag of potato chips from the pantry and a soda from the fridge before heading to the back.

"Spoink and Numel are pretty cute," Volbeat brought up. "Armaldo seems a bit weird, Exploud seems like she'll be a worthy competitor, and… I'm a bit afraid of Cacturne. I don't know why."

"That's just her species. Being all edgy and mysterious," Masquerain said. "I've only ever seen one Cacturne that wasn't all creepy and brooding, and that's at the circus."

"It _is_ kinda peculiar how she knew _exactly_ where the bus was and didn't want to tell anyone," Glalie added. "Kinda suspicious if ya ask me…"

"Yeah, but remember what she told Blaziken. We don't want to know what she's capable of…" Pelipper replied.

"More than half of us are able to kick her ass with no problem," Hariyama chuckled. "I doubt that she's a real threat."

"Who knows?" Masquerain replied. "I mean, we're _all_ threats in our own rights. It'll all come down to the threat who's able to outsmart and outlast everyone else."

The guys all exchanged looks.

 **000**

The Thunderclap Pokemon and the Synthetic Pokemon sat in the living room, monitoring what was happening in the lodges.

"I think this'll be a decent season," Silvally commented, seeing the competitors interact and break off. "Not that many duds and they seem to be able to bounce off of each other pretty well."

"Yep. And it's not even eight o'clock yet…" Zeraora replied before looking to him. "So, how do you want to break up the teams tomorrow?"

"We can let them decide that," Silvally replied. "The winners of the first challenge tomorrow."

Zeraora nodded before sighing. "Well, let's see how all of this plays out in the end…"

 **000**

 **Surprise, I guess. Total Pokemon: Hoenn! Yay! *crickets chirp* Oh right, it's me… Well, whatever. I decided to take a different approach to things and see if it works. So yeah. This'll just be something else I'll be working on. And those who know me already know what to expect, so… yeah… sporadic uploading… yay. Anyways, give me your thought son the hosts and contestants and give me some predictions. Anyways, I'll see you all next time on Total… Pokemon… Hoenn! See ya guys, BYE!**


	2. Episode 2: Let's Starter Off

**000**

Following their introduction to the game, the rules, and living arrangements, the contestants had to deal with their most difficult task: being in each others' presence. Things actually seemed to be going well on the first night, but when it came to going to sleep, some players had tougher times than others.

 **000**

Cacturne was lying in bed, resting as comfortably as she could in the queen-sized bed. Her spikes made it quite difficult, as she always ended up puncturing the mattress and tearing it whenever she turned. She had finally gotten into a comfortable spot, when she was awoken by a loud, beeping sound.

 _BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

She immediately sat up, pulling out a blade in self-defense. However, upon turning to her right and seeing Blaziken's phone vibrating and illuminating on the counter between them, she growled to herself. Placing her blade back underneath her pillow, she immediately lied back down as she heard the creaking of the hen's bed.

Blaziken got up, stretching as her phone alarm continued to blare. She tapped the red 'Stop' button on her screen. Letting out a breath of relaxation, she looked over to Cacturne's bed and saw that the Scarecrow Pokemon was still asleep, or at the very least pretending to be.

She eyed her cellphone, which was attached to her charger, warily. The Blaziken was heading toward the shower, and was tempted to bring her phone in with her incase someone called. However, given that it was only 6:15 in the morning, she felt that she didn't need to worry.

Once Blaziken was out of the room, Cacturne groaned in relief. How could they allow the hen to have her phone here? Didn't these shows usually look down upon outside contact and technology? As Cacturne drifted back off to sleep, her eyes immediately popped back open as she heard running water nearby.

Growling, the grass- and dark-type picked up her pillow and covered her head with it.

 **000**

" **First day… and I still dislike her…" Cacturne stated. "Why the hell does she have her phone alarm on anyway? And I will never, for the life of me, understand why people get up so early."**

 **000**

Hours passed by, with the girls slowly beginning to wake up from their peaceful slumbers. Blaziken had gotten out of the shower and was in the kitchen, making breakfast. Due to her nature, she was unsure about if she should make enough for everyone.

She decided against it, having already made dinner for nearly everyone previously. She took out a carton of eggs and opened the freezer to take out bacon.

A sharp yawn was heard as Numel made her way out front. Seeing that Blaziken was already up, Numel rose her brow. "Good morning Blaziken…" she greeted.

"Good morning, Numel," the hen responded as she cracked a couple of eggs into a plastic bowl. "Sleep well?"

"Can't really complain," the Numb Pokemon replied, hopping up into one of the chairs. "Armaldo and Spoink are pretty good roommates so far. And, on the plus side, neither of them snore. How was Cacturne?"

Blaziken shrugged. "Can't really complain, either," she replied. "She's pretty quiet, I suppose, so no real issues…"

Armaldo and Spoink headed to the front, with Spoink looking cheery, and Armaldo looking rather… perturbed.

"Hey, look at who's up," Blaziken playfully addressed. "You girls have a goodnight's sleep?"

"Yep!" Spoink chirped. "The beds here are so soft! It was like sleeping on a fluffy cloud!"

"I know, right?" Numel agreed cheerily. "And the sheets were like being wrapped up in cotton!"

Armaldo still looked a bit uncomfortable, as she was scratching her arm with a soft sigh. Hearing the sound, the girls turned to her apprehensively.

"You okay, Armaldo?" Blaziken queried, seeing her demeanor.

The Plate Pokemon ceased her scratching momentarily before looking down. "I'm okay. I guess I'm just not used to sleeping outside of my pod…"

"Well, hopefully you'll be able to get accustomed to it for the next two months," Numel replied brightly.

"Or you could always just recreate your pod with your bed and sheets," Spoink said, springing into another chair at the table. "We all have to be comfortable…"

"Well, comfort is hard to come by when you're a cactus…" they all heard as Cacturne sulked toward the front. She went down toward the couches and sat down with a groan. "Especially when your roommate's alarm wakes you up three hours early…"

Blaziken, upon hearing that, gave her a look. " _So, she_ _ **was**_ _just pretending to be asleep_ ," the hen thought to herself. Though, if she was being honest, she couldn't blame the Scarecrow Pokemon for being agitated. If she wasn't an early bird and someone woke _her_ up unexpectedly, she'd hold a bit of resentment as well.

"Well, my apologies for that," Blaziken stated, whipping the eggs in the bowl she had. "I suppose I should have warned you about my alarm…"

"Yes, that would have been appreciated," Cacturne replied, staring at the ceiling. "And I must also ask that you turn it down or do something to negate the chance of me being woken up by it…"

Blaziken, upon hearing that, could only shake her head. She got up early every morning to shower, go out for a jog or early workout in general, and then showered again before making breakfast for herself and her son. She should have realized that being in this game, and having a roommate along with it, meant that it was going to be difficult for her to continue her routine.

"Wait, how is she supposed to keep you from being woken up by it?" Numel queried.

"Either turn it off or find some headphones…" Cacturne replied.

"And if you find some, you'd better bring _me_ some, too!" they all heard a loud voice bellow as Salamence stomped toward the front. "That fucking bitch snored all night! I kept thinking that a fucking plane was about to crash into the damn cabin!"

"Salamence, calm down. It couldn't have been _that_ bad…" Spoink replied.

"Quiet, bacon, you don't know anything!" Salamence growled, glowering at the Bounce Pokemon.

Exploud came to the front, yawning. "Man, those beds are great on the back…"

"I'm _so_ glad that you got to enjoy it…" Salamence replied sarcastically while glaring daggers at the Loud Noise Pokemon. "At least _someone_ in the room was able to…"

"What? Did your bed suck?"

Salamence twitched. "I'm going outside. Nobody fucking bother me…" the dragon demanded as she walked to the door.

Once she left, Exploud rose a brow. "What the hell's her problem? It was a simple yes or no question…"

"Uh… According to Salamence… You snore," Armaldo explained. "So, I'm guessing she's pissed that you actually kept her up for a good portion of the night…"

Exploud scoffed. "Please. I've heard plenty of people tell me that and whenever I record myself, I never hear anything…"

"What?" Numel queried. "That's not how sound works…"

"Main point, I don't snore, therefore Salamence is just being her normal, bitchy self," Exploud reasoned. "So, whatever she tells you regarding me, will be false…"

"That's a pretty broad generalization based on a single idea," Blaziken spoke.

"It's true, though," Exploud replied. "So, to avoid this happening often, I say that whoever's on her team vote her out after the first challenge…"

"Or we can wait until the teams are made, see how she performs _then_ and not potentially ruin our chances," Cacturne spoke. "She may not even be on your team and if she is, you never know, she may be a worthy asset…"

"She _is_ a dragon-type after all…" Spoink stated. "I can see it."

"Yeah, sure…" Exploud retorted, rolling her eyes.

 **000**

" **Please. We all know that Salamence is practically asking to be eliminated first," Exploud replied. "Her shitty attitude won't serve any purpose other than to irritate everyone."**

 **000**

Outside, Hariyama and Volbeat were engaging in a game of catch, using a football that they found in one of the closets. They had a pretty rough encounter with Salamence, who attempted to torch their ball when it accidentally flew in her direction. Volbeat had to rush over to it and grab it before she reduced it to ash. She retreated into the trailers, leaving them alone for a while.

"Sheesh, what the heck is wrong with that girl?" Hariyama queried, tossing the ball toward the Firefly Pokemon.

Volbeat shrugged as he flew up to catch the ball. "Who knows. Women are complex creatures that we will never truly understand…"

"I can agree to that," Hariyama replied as Volbeat threw the ball back toward him. "My ex-wife divorced me because she thought I was fucking one of the strippers at the club I worked at."

"...Were you?"

"Well, unless you count mouth fucking… not technically…" Hariyama answered sheepishly.

"Aw, come on dude. You have to be faithful to your lady if you don't want her to leave you," Volbeat said as he caught the ball thrown back to him. "But, then again, my relationships never lasted more than eight days, so what do I know?"

"Whoa… That's fucked up," the fighting-type commented sympathetically. "What do you do?"

"That's what _I_ wanna know!" Volbeat exclaimed. "Like, I don't do anything wrong! I take them out to dinners and movies, we spend money on each other, we usually make out sometime in between… Then, randomly, something stupid happens, someone takes one thing as something else, or she hears something about me, and then she dumps me right then and there!"

"Yeesh," Hariyama remarked. 'And how many relationships have you had?"

"Forty-two…" Volbeat replied embarrassedly, his tone a decibel just above a whisper.

Hariyama's eyes widened upon hearing that. "You're kidding me…"

"I'm not," Volbeat responded with a sigh. "It's sad, but true…"

"I… I'm not about how to respond to that," Hariyama replied.

"It's okay, ya don't have to," Volbeat said, tossing the ball back toward him before flying back toward the cabin.

Catching the ball, Hariyama watched the bug-type return to the cabin. A feeling of guilt washed over him as he let out a sigh.

 **000**

" **Okay, I didn't mean to make the guy feel bad," Hariyama replied. "It's just shocking! What would you say after you heard that?"**

 **000**

As the Arm Thrust Pokemon entered the cabin, he was immediately met by stares from the other guys. He chuckled sheepishly.

"What happened?" Glalie asked. "Volbeat said that he was gonna weep into his pillow while singing 'Baby'..."

Hariyama let out a sigh. "Uh… A combination of memories and girl issues…" he explained vaguely, not wanting to reveal Volbeat's business.

"Uh… girl issues are a staple for males," Masquerain stated. "There's nothing embarrassing about it. All of us go through it. So, no need to be vague..."

Hariyama sighed as he walked toward the couches and plopped down next to Pelipper, who was being quiet and simply listening.

"Well," he started, dropping the football on the ground. "I threw the ball a bit too far, and it almost hit Salamence. And, being who we her as so far, she decided to try and burn it. Volbeat got it back, and when she went into the trailer, we started talking about how women were creatures that we'd never understand."

"As any _sensible_ conversation begins…" Glalie commented sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Then, we started talking about our past relationship experiences… and uh… that's when things got a bit unhinged," Hariyama explained.

"Ah, the mention of exes, either a man's biggest relief, or biggest upset," Masquerain commented. "What exactly was spoken of?"

"Well, I talked about how my wife left me because I got a blowjob from one of the strippers at my job…" Hariyama started, not necessarily ashamed of admitting it.

The other guys gaped in shock upon hearing that. Hariyama expected this type of response, and waited for them to regain their composure. After about three minutes, the three guys came back to their senses.

"So, you ruined your marriage by getting oral sex from an exotic dancer," Pelipper simplified in his own words. "Odd choice, but I suppose that it's reasonable that she left…"

"Yeah," Hariyama replied. "Anyways, when it came around to Volbeat… uh…"

"You just told us that you got a blowjob from a stripper and got a divorce. I doubt Volbeat's issue pales in comparison to that," Glalie reasoned.

"Fine…" the Arm Thrust Pokemon groaned. "But if he gets upset or embarrassed, I'm blaming you guys."

"That's fine," Pelipper chirped.

"Basically, the guy's had forty-two relationships and none of them lasted more than eight days," Hariyama revealed. "So… essentially he's got it bad…"

"Hell, I'd rather forty-two relationships that fail than none at all," Glalie replied. "I don't really see the problem other than the length of the relationship. He just needs help…"

"And I'll be the kind soul that helps him out…" Masquerain offered. "He's a cutie, so he should be easy to fix…"

"There. Problem solved," Glalie replied. He then turned to a clock hanging in the kitchen. "Now, it's almost eleven o'clock, so we still have at least one hour of freedom. So, the question remains. Who the hell is going to make breakfast?!"

The guys exchanged looks.

 **000**

Silvally was lying on a blue cushion inside of Solgaleo's room. He was simply keeping the larger lion company, along with Entei. Entei was nudging a bowl of soup toward the Sunne Pokemon, who was just lying on his bed with a distant look on his face.

"Come on, Leo… you've gotta eat _something_. You haven't eaten in three days…" Entei urged, very concerned about him.

"I'm not in the mood," the large lion replied. "My head is killing me and I still feel worthless."

"Solgaleo, hungry headaches exist," Silvally chimed in. "Maybe if you actually eat something, your headache will lessen."

"How long have you been in here?" the large feline asked tonelessly, not turning to eye the chimera, but recognizing his voice.

"Just a couple of hours," Silvally responded, rising up from the cushion he was sitting on in order to accompany Entei on the side of his bed. "I was a bit worried about you and Entei invited me to come and see you."

The lion's eyes momentarily moved toward the Volcano Pokemon, who nuzzled him, making him roll his eyes before they went back to the wall. Entei sighed. "Come on man, just eat," he urged.

Solgaleo groaned to himself. "I'm not hungry, okay? And I'd _really_ appreciate some alone time, if it's not too much. Maybe I'll eat something later…"

Hearing that, Entei sighed in defeat. "Alright, fine," he said before leaning up and kissing the lion's cheek. "I love you…"

Solgaleo faintly blushed, grumbling to himself after the act of affection was initiated. Silvally and Entei both chuckled to themselves, seeing the red tint spread across the white lion's face.

Deciding to oblige, the two of them exited the Sunne Pokemon's room, leaving him to roll over, facing away from the door.

 **-000-**

"He's so cute," Silvally chuckled. "I'm sure he'll warm up to the thought…"

Entei smiled. "Well, right now I'm only worried about making him feel better," he explained. "Working him is going to be on the backburner until his spirits are up again."

Thinking about what the emissary said, Silvally grew a bit perplexed. He had known about Solgaleo's depression, but he wasn't truly able to identify the cause of it. "Hey," he started, turning to Entei. "Do you guys know what _really_ caused his depression anyway? He said that he _still_ felt worthless..."

Entei sighed. "Well, the show that he and Lunala did played a part in it. But, I think that he was already like this before. And I don't think Darkrai, Kyurem, and Victini saying that he and Lunala were worthless wastes of space because of all of the other 'Sun' and 'Moon' based ordinary Pokemon helped him at all…"

Silvally sighed. It always had something to do with one of those three. "Well, hopefully he gets better. I would think that everyone knew to ignore any and everything negative those three have to say…"

Entei shrugged. "That doesn't always work for everyone."

"True enough," he replied.

"Silvally!" the two of them heard from below. Looking over the banister, the two of them spotted Zeraora standing at the bottom level with her arms folded. "Come on, it's about time for us to head back!"

"On my way!" he shouted back as he watched her retreat toward the living room.

The chimera turned toward his friend before letting out a breath. "Well, wish we luck, man…"

Entei nodded with a smirk as Silvally began heading toward the slide. Being that he wasn't going to be in Solgaleo's room for a while, Entei decided to to walk down with him. Going down the slide with him, Entei grew a bit curious about his and Zeraora's show, specifically the contestants.

"So, what type of no life losers did you guys recruit for your show?" Entei queried, hip checking the Synthetic Pokemon.

Silvally chuckled. "They're a cool bunch. Pretty diverse, in my eyes anyway. You'll have to wait and watch the show to see 'em."

Entei pouted. "Really?"

"Yes, really," Silvally replied playfully.

Groaning, Entei leaned against him, "Great. More work than necessary."

The chimera nuzzled him. "You'll be fine," he replied as they walked into the kitchen. "Well, I'll talk to you later…"

Entei gave him a thoughtful look. "Okay," he responded, nuzzling him back. "Good luck."

As the lion began walking away, Silvally actively found himself watching him go. Turning back around, he saw a familiar electric feline staring at him with a brow raised and a small smile on her face. This caused Silvally to blush a bit.

"Uh… Y'see-"

Zeraora rose a paw, signalling him to stop. "It's fine," she replied. "Just come on…"

She began walking toward the front door, with Silvally following her. The co-hosts exited enormous building and headed toward their bus. "So, Sil, how are you and Entei doing with Solgaleo? Has he had a breakthrough yet?"

"No, but he _does_ seem to need therapy or something of the sort," Silvally replied as he entered the bus and took a seat.

Zeraora nodded as she got into the bus and stood next to the dashboard. "And I assume that you and Entei are growing a tad bit closer, hmm?"

Silvally gave her a look. "I know what you're insinuating, and you're wrong. Entei's cute and rugged, yeah, but we're _just_ friends."

"Okay," the Thunderclap Pokemon replied, raising her hands in defense. She pulled out the microphone. "Hoenn. Littleroot Town."

She took a seat, folding her legs. "I'm just saying, you guys have a lot in common and would make a pretty cute couple. You're both strong, want someone who doesn't want you, have the same sense of humor, similar mannerisms… The list goes on."

Silvally rolled his eyes and scoffed. "Please. He likes Solgaleo; I doubt he sees me as more than a friend."

"You never know…" Zeraora replied. "He _was_ nuzzling you affectionately…"

Silvally rolled his eyes. "Let's just ride…"

Zeraora giggled to herself. "As you wish…"

 **000**

As 11:54 rolled around, a few of the contestants made their way out onto the front porches. The only ones unaccounted for were Swampert, Salamence, Exploud, Cacturne, and Claydol. The campers waited for their hosts to arrive and either engaging in conversation or simple activities.

Spoink, Armaldo, and Numel had set up a horseshoe game, Glalie and Masquerain were watching them, Blaziken was doing pull ups in the doorway of the girls' cabin, with Volbeat and Hariyama eyeing her like a hunk of meat, and Pelipper was sitting on the roof, watching over everyone.

After a while, the large vehicle that picked all of them up the day prior came into view, leaving tire marks in the ground. Everyone turned to the bus as Zeraora and Silvally exited it.

"Good noon, everyone," Zeraora greeted with a wave before putting her hands on her hips. "Everyone get a good night's sleep?"

"NO!" Salamence exclaimed, coming out of one of the trailers. "I had a snoring bitch as a roommate!"

"I don't snore," Exploud stated sternly. "So, please blame whatever night terrors or wet dreams that plagued your mind last night…"

"And why were wet dreams something that came to your mind?" Glalie queried tonelessly, but confused.

"How about we _not_ get into that and introduce you guys' first challenge?" Zeraora cut in, not wanting that conversation to go further. Looking around, she noticed that a few contestants were still unaccounted for. "Uh… where are Swampert and Claydol?"

"Claydol is sulking and Swampert's still asleep," Masquerain explained.

Cacturne sighed. "Typical men…" she muttered to herself.

"Can one of you gents go and get your comrades so we can actually get this show on the road?" Blaziken asked, turning to the guys.

"Allow me," Hariyama spoke up. "I _am_ a bouncer after all. It's in my job description…"

Cracking his knuckles, he proceeded toward the cabin again. A few minutes later, the Mud Fish and Clay Doll Pokemon were thrown out of the cabin, landing next to Pelipper, who looked at them, along with the others.

"Ugh… What the hell was that for?!" Swampert exclaimed, rubbing his head while glaring at the Arm Thrust Pokemon."I was getting up!"

"Well, you were still late," Glalie replied. "Doesn't excuse it…"

Swampert grumbled to himself as he got onto his feet.

Claydol only sighed and floated upright. "This is going to be an awful day if this is how it's going to start…"

"Anywho…" Silvally began. "You guys' first challenge will be rather simple, and it will start here, but extend all the way to Route 101, Oldale Town, and Route 102…"

"What about teams?" Numel queried, confused at how they were being flung into the first challenge without knowing their teammates.

"This challenge will determine what team you're on," Zeraora explained. "Now, since we are competing in Hoenn, we have decided that you guys' first challenge will involve the starters."

"There are numerous, wild starters roaming the areas that we have designated for this challenge, which again, are here, Oldale Town, and Routes 101 and 102," Silvally began. "Your goal is to bring back any six of the starters, as long as they are part of the same evolutionary chain."

"Basically, you have to find two starter evolutionary chains and bring them all here for evaluation," Zeraora expounded. "The two players that are able to bring them all to us the fastest will be declared team leaders and will choose who they want on their teams."

"Now, any questions before we begin?" Silvally queried, already knowing that there were going to be a couple.

"Yeah," Cacturne spoke up. "Are they allowed to be killed and brought back that way? Also, how do you want us to bring them back? One at a time, as a group…?"

"You can use whatever method you see fit. Except the killing method, we're not going to allow that…" Zeraora replied.

"Um, won't Swampert and Blaziken have it easier since they're already starters?" Exploud queried.

"Yeah, I feel like a handicap should be implemented for these two," Glalie chimed in.

The chicken and mud fish rolled their eyes.

"They will not be allowed to include themselves and none of _you_ are allowed to use them, either," Silvally explained.

"Can we get hints as to how to lure them out?" Armaldo queried. "From my understanding, finding starters in the wild is very rare."

"Well, we've had a _friend_ bring in a plentiful amount. Nine of each, meaning that there are eighty-one starters roaming the grounds," Zeraora responded. "And while they _may_ hide, it should not be _completely_ difficult."

"What if you don't want to be a leader?" Swampert asked tonelessly, not wanting to take part in all of that work.

"You still have to participate, Swampert. It's the first challenge of the season. At least show your worthiness to your fellow competitors and the viewers," Silvally urged.

The water- and ground-type groaned. "Fine…"

"So, if there are no further questions… let the starter search _begin_!" Zeraora announced. She clapped her hands, causing a booming, thunderous sound to echo throughout the area.

The contestants all scattered, with Salamence and Glalie taking to the skies, and the others remaining at ground level. Claydol slowly floated behind everyone.

Once they were out if the area, Silvally turned to Zeraora. "So, who do you think is going to get back first?"

The feline shrugged. "Not sure. We don't _really_ know what they're capable of."

"Hmm… true enough," the chimera said with a nod.

 **000**

Swampert, despite following the others, immediately turned back toward Littleroot Town. He wasn't really interested in this challenge, but since he was pretty much obligated to do it, he had to participate.

He had signed up for the show for the cash prize so he could pay off the landlord and maybe move into another apartment complex with actual furniture. But, despite that, he knew that activities like these were going to annoy him.

He let out a sigh as he wandered behind the cabins. "Why couldn't this have been a simple 'get to know you' trivia session?"

Behind the cabins, he saw that there weren't any Pokemon, or indications of one, in the area. The only things there were a trampoline, behind the boys' cabin, and a pile of tires, behind the girls' cabin.

Seeing the trampoline, he walked over to it in interest. "Huh… haven't been on one of these since I was a kid."

He climbed onto the jumping device and began jumping on it. He let out a happy cheer. "Whoo-hoo!"

A green blur zoomed across the trampoline. Once the large Mud Fish Pokemon landed, he suddenly fell straight through the trampoline and onto the hard ground below. "Ow…" he let out a deadpan exclamation of pain.

Groaning, he sat up, causing the trampoline to lift and land on its side. "What the-" he turned to the device and saw that there was a cut down the middle of it. "Where'd that come from?"

Shrugging it off, he decided to continue his search. He headed toward the tires behind the girls' cabin and noticed bit of rustling from the woods.

Suspicious, he walked toward the source of the shaking foliage. "Hello? Who's there?" he queried.

He got no response, causing him to push further. Immediately, he found himself being tackled to the groan, knocking the wind out of him.

Looking up, he saw a Grovyle looming over him, with three others surrounding him. The one looming over him was actually standing on his stomach.

"Hey!" he exclaimed.

Immediately, all four Grovyle scattered, leaving him on his back. He rolled onto all fours and looked around at the different directions that they had run off to.

He let out an annoyed groan. "Fuck my life…"

 **000**

Spoink, Numel, and Armaldo decided to stay grouped together to elevate their chances of winning a spot as a team captain.

As they searched Route 101, a thought entered Spoink's head. She groaned to herself. "Dangit! I didn't bring my treasure hunting gear!"

"Um, you could always go get it," Armaldo simply uttered. "We're not _that_ far from the cabins."

"Yeah, but I just know that when I leave, you guys are gonna run into one of the starters and I'm gonna feel bad," Spoink replied.

"We'll be fine, Spoink," Numel assured. "Go and get what you need to get and we'll wait for you…"

"Yeah, plus nothing's really showing up around us, so I think it'll be okay," Armaldo added.

"If you girls say so," the Bounce Pokemon responded, hesitance oozing from her voice. She sprung back toward Littleroot Town, leaving the girls to wait.

Numel looked around the vicinity, taking note that Cacturne was stalking around, checking the woods, as the open area was not teeming with much life.

"She still scares me a bit," Armaldo whispered, looking over in the Scarecrow Pokemon's direction.

"Yeah, she _is_ kinda weird," Numel replied. "But I don't think she'll cause any harm."

 **-000-**

Cacturne knew that the two girls were watching her, and she didn't really care. She was only focused on winning this challenge.

If she had the opportunity to choose her team, there was a chance for her to make it further. She knew of a technique involving the clacking of sticks that could lure different grass-types into a vicinity.

She walked toward a tree, pulling off a long stick and breaking it in half. She began smacking the sticks together in a specific fashion.

 _Cl-Clack-Clack-Clack Cl-Cl-Cl-Clack-Clack-Clack_

Rustling was heard from the bushes, getting her attention. She hadn't expected it to be so quick, but then again, there _were_ twenty-seven of the grass-type starters hidden and venturing around the designated locations.

After a few moments, she saw a Treecko peeking from the bushes. She smiled to herself upon seeing it and stealthily approached it. The Wood Gecko Pokemon retreated back into the bushes, causing Cacturne to growl to herself.

"Great… Back to square one," she muttered to herself as she went back over to pick up the sticks. She repeated the same pattern of clacks.

 **-000-**

"What's she doing?" Numel queried, watching as Cacturne picked up her sticks and began banging them together again. The faint sound echoing throughout the area. Gazing around, the two took note of rustling that was occurring near them.

A couple of Treecko hopped out of the foliage, startling them as they rushed past their feet. "Hey!" Armaldo called after them before attempting to chase after them. She ended up tripping over a ledge, making her groan upon landing.

The Numb Pokemon padded up to her in worry. "Are you okay, Armaldo?"

The large rock- and bug-type picked herself up, shaking her head to clear it from fuzziness. "Yeah, I'm okay."

They glanced back over at Cacturne, who had effectively lured three Treecko to her location.

"Hey, she's got three. Let's go ask her if we can use one!" Numel suggested, turning to her friend.

"Again, she still scares me," Armaldo replied, looking back down at her. "Also, isn't this a challenge? I doubt that she'd try to help us."

"Well, my nana always tells me to try to look for the best in people," Numel spoke cheerily. "She may be a bit… _peculiar_ , but we can still ask."

Armaldo forced out a defeated sigh. "Well, _you_ can go ask. I'm gonna wait for Spoink to come back," the fossil Pokemon stated, staking a seat on the ledge she tripped over.

"Okay, if you say so," the fire- and ground-type replied as she padded over toward Cacturne.

 **-000-**

Spoink hummed to herself as she hopped down the hallway of the cabin and opened the door to the room she, Numel, and Armaldo shared. She leaned downwards, reaching underneath her own bed, and slid out a flat disc with a small nub-like knob and a red bulb next to it.

"Alright, Felix, let's go find some treasure!" Spoink said sprily as she grabbed a plastic bag from a box and hopped back out of the room.

Spoink pressed the button on the top of the knob, causing a handle to extend from it and the red bulb to glow. As she bounded out of the cabin, her device immediately started beeping slowly. She smiled, waving it around on the ground. Hearing the sound speed up slightly, pointing it in the direction of the trailers, she gasped.

"Already!?"

She bounced over toward the trailers, with the hosts watching her in confusion. They exchanged looks of unsurety.

Spoink, upon getting closer, heard her device beeping louder. However, she soon realized that the device was only beeping because of the trailer being made of metal. She sighed in disappointment before hopping back in the direction of Route 101.

"You okay there, Spoink?" Silvally queried.

The treasure hunter sighed before giving them a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied as she continued on her way, her device beeping slowly.

As she left, Zeraora shook her head, while Silvally chuckled. "We have to just let them do them…"

 **000**

" **Well, so far this show is still about as generic as all of the other ones," Glalie commented. "Having a boring, stereotypical searching challenge as a start of your series is** _ **not**_ **a sign of greatness in the future. It only sinks this show lower into the hole of shit that all of its predecessors have established for all of these new competition shows. Though, I** _ **will**_ **give them credit for having the reward be that the winners can choose their own teams. Not many shows do that."**

" **And, seeing who my competition is right now, I'm going to need to step up my game up in order to procure that."**

 **000**

Glalie was floating overhead, getting an aerial view of the locations. The Face Pokemon felt that taking the higher ground would be best choice, as he could locate what he needed to. Peering down over the lush foliage of the route, Glalie took note of a few feral grass-types in an opening.

He rose a brow. "Hmm…"

Floating down, he was unsure if all of them were starters, so he decided to check them out. Getting closer, the ice-type noticed that among the grass-types, or what he thought to be grass-types, there was a Shiftry, two Combusken, a Sceptile, a Tropius, three Sudowoodo, two Bonsly, five Trevenant, and a Venusaur, of all things.

"What the hell?" he queried to himself. "What _is_ this?"

His eyes focused on the Combusken and Sceptile. If he captured the two of them, he'd only need to find the pre-evolutions and evolutions. However, that proposed a dilemma. He could very well search the water or moist areas and find the entire evolutionary line of Mudkip, so he had to choose wisely.

"Okay, let's see," he muttered to himself as he hid behind the leaves of a nearby tree. "The Sceptile is the only singular starter there, so it could be rare to find, especially considering the number of trees around the routes.

He let out a breath and floated upwards. He prepared to use Ice Beam, but a sudden blackish-purple beam struck them all from above, causing numerous trees to bend away from the force and smoke to envelop the area.

Glalie turned away and closed his eyes to keep the dust from irritating his facial features. When he felt that the dust was settled, he looked upwards, seeing Salamence flying down toward the group, Glalie swiftly flew toward the area in order to get the Sceptile.

It seemed that Salamence saw what he was about to do, and so blasted a Flamethrower in his direction. Glalie could hear the roaring of flames heading in his direction, so he swiftly floated out of the way and fired an Ice Beam toward Salamence in defense.

She swiftly dodged it and charged toward him, fire in her eyes out of pure anger. He was _not_ about to mooch off of something that _she_ had done.

Glalie floated down to the Sceptile and used Ice Beam, freezing it in place before lifting it onto his head. "PUT THE GRASS-SICLE DOWN!" he heard from above.

Ignoring Salamence's shouted and threats, Glalie continued on his merry way. He wasn't interested in dealing with an aggro dragon, especially when she still had a chance to get a starter. He wasn't touching the Combusken, anyway.

The Dragon Pokemon attempted to blast him once again, but ended up missing. Landing, she growled, glaring daggers in the direction that the ice-type was going. She gazed around at the unconscious Pokemon in the area before grabbing hold of one of the Combusken's arms with her mouth and flying up with it.

 **000**

" **I'm going to** _ **kill**_ **that ice rock," Salamence growled. "He'd better hope I don't catch him alone…"**

 **000**

Blaziken decided to start from the furthest location and make her way forward. It seemed to be the best option, as most of her competition was still near the front or in Oldale Town. However, despite that, Hariyama and Volbeat seemed to have followed her example, deciding to come to Route 102 as well.

She didn't really mind the company, so long as they didn't pester her in any way. She was a nice girl, but she could be violent if need be. As she approached the small pond, she could hear footsteps approaching her from behind.

"Any luck?" she heard a voice ask. Recognizing it, she turned around to face the Arm Thrust Pokemon standing behind her.

"No," she replied, folding her arms. "No luck just yet. I was about to check the water, but…"

"I stopped you, right…" Hariyama replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, uh, I'd be happy to help if you want. I don't really care about being leader that much."

"Uh… Thanks for the offer, but no thanks," Blaziken replied, facing back to the pond. "I'd rather do this alone."

"But, you're a fire-type. Won't you get weak, or sick, or something?"

The hen scoffed, looking back at him with a smirk. "Please. I'm not worried about a little water. I've built up a tolerance as a part of my training…" she stated as she stepped a foot into the pond.

Watching her submerge herself, Hariyama couldn't help but smile to himself. Blaziken, looking back to see that the big galoot was still watching her, glowered at him. "Y'know, I'm sure you just standing there watching me fits into the categories of 'uncomfortable' and 'creepy'..."

"Oh," Hariyama grunted, a blush spreading across his face. "Well, sorry about that. Guess I'm just used to watching hot girls do-"

Blaziken's glare tightened as he continued speaking. Seeing that look, Hariyama swallowed in fear, his blood running a bit cold by the piercing stare. "I'll just… move over there," the fighting-type said as he walked toward Volbeat, who was investigating the tall grass.

Blaziken, seeing the bouncer leave, rolled her eyes as she dove down to scope out the small pond.

 **000**

" **It's always guys like him who gawk at me, act like they've never seen a 'fit' girl before, and try to offer me help over menial things," Blaziken stated. "It gets** _ **really**_ **annoying really fast. Some girls may take it as a compliment, but to me, it just comes off as the guys being horny…"**

 **000**

"Well, I don't think she's going to like me any time soon…" Hariyama grumbled as he approached the Firefly Pokemon.

"How come?" Volbeat queried.

"I watched her go into the water and uh… stared at her for a few minutes," Hariyama explained. "Then, she called me creepy…"

"Well that's no good," Volbeat remarked. "I watched a girl take a bath through her window once and she didn't mind…"

Hariyama stared blankly at him for a few moments. "Uh… I'm pretty sure that counts as being a peeping tom…"

"Oh, no, she was into that kinda stuff, oddly enough," the bug-type explained. "But, then the police drove by, handcuffed me, and she had to bail me out and explain. Then she dumped me..."

Hariyama facepalmed. "What kind of girls live in your city?"

"The kind that you don't need to try to impress…" Volbeat replied. Hearing a faint splash, the guys turned back toward the pond to see Blaziken rising out of it, her fur and hair glistening as droplets of water dripped from it. She held a Mudkip close to her chest, which seemed to be very comfortable, as it held its eyes closed, snuggling into her chest.

The Blaze Pokemon began walking toward Oldale Town.

Watching her butt sway as she walked away, the guys slowly exchanged looks.

 **000**

" **Why the hell is she so hot?!" Hariyama exclaimed. "Hell, she even gives the girls at the strip club a run for their money!"**

 **He groaned. "Arceus, why the hell doesn't she like me? I try to be nice and helpful, but she takes it the wrong way or just rejects it. Hmm… Maybe she's gay…"**

 **000**

" **I'll admit, Blaziken's cute. But, she's** _ **way**_ **out of my league, and she doesn't seem to be interesting in anything dating-wise…" Volbeat replied. "Usually girls that look as hot as her flaunt their looks, essentially begging for a boyfriend. I guess she's different."**

 **000**

Exploud was looking through each house in the wide-open range of Oldale Town. "Arceus, this is going to be _all_ too tedious. The grass is so green and there's so much space between these buildings. How is anyone supposed to find six Pokemon in these areas?"

As she entered the Pokemon Center, she gazed around the interior. She didn't see any sign of a Pokemon inside, though she did notice three pokeballs sitting on the counter. She rose a brow as she approached them. "Interesting…"

She picked up two of the balls and tossed them up, releasing a Torchic and a Mudkip. Stifling a laugh, the Loud Noise Pokemon returned the two of them to their Pokeballs. "That was easier than I thought," she thought jovially. "Two down, four to go…"

She proceeded to walk out of the healing location, wanting to go ahead and take the two starters that she had already procured back to the hosts to add to her score. On her way, she noticed Blaziken leaving Route 102, a Mudkip cuddled in her arms.

Out of all of the girls, Exploud felt that she could find herself tolerating Blaziken the most. She didn't know why she felt that way, but she did. Just her demeanor in general was enough to get the normal-type to find her likeable.

"Blaziken!" she called out to her as she ran over to her.

Blaziken, having heard her name be called, turned to the source and rose a brow upon seeing Exploud heading in her direction. The purple pipe organ beast approached her with the two pokeballs in her hand.

"Uh, hi Exploud…" she greeted. "What's up?"

"Nothing. Just wanted to walk with someone," Exploud replied. "You're heading back to the hosts, right?"

"Yeah…" the hen replied, a bit hesitant. She didn't know if this was a ruse or not. But, seeing two pokeballs in her hands, she decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. "Well, I suppose it's okay."

Exploud nodded as the two began walking in the direction of Route 101. On the way, the two spotted Masquerain and Pelipper flying overhead, heading back toward Oldale Town. The Loud Noise Pokemon would have told them that the place was pretty barren, but then again she didn't check the trees or the houses near the water.

Not wanting to remain in silence as the two walked, the normal-type attempted to start up a conversation. "So, how long have you been a fitness instructor?"

Blaziken didn't expect that question, so she wasn't able to answer as quickly as she normally would. She didn't really care for personal life questions, but she would still answer so she would not come off as rude.

She let out a soft sigh. "About… fifteen or sixteen years now," Blaziken answered.

Exploud was shocked. "Wow, how old _are_ you?"

"Thirty-one," Blaziken answered with a shrug.

"Wow. So you've been at it since you were a teenager?" Exploud queried.

"Yep," Blaziken replied. "I needed a part time job, and I used to go to the gym a lot with my dad, so when they offered me a spot to instruct other kids my age, I took it."

"Impressive," the normal-type commented. "I have to say, you've really kept yourself put together if it's been over ten years…"

Blaziken giggled. "Thanks. And what about you?"

"Hmm?"

"What do _you_ do?" Blaziken inquired. She didn't recall Exploud giving a profession or telling if she was unemployed on the bus yesterday. Everyone else shared for the most part, excluding Salamence, Claydol, and Cacturne.

"Oh, I work in a restaurant," Exploud explained. "I'm a waitress…"

"Huh. That's cool," Blaziken remarked, not expecting her to have that kind of occupation. "Which restaurant?"

"Georgio's," Exploud replied as they entered Route 101. "It's a Italian joint. The food usually sucks, but people come anyway, and tips are always appreciated."

"Nice," Blaziken replied as the two of them looked forward and saw Cacturne heading in their direction, coming from Littleroot Town.

The Scarecrow Pokemon walked past the two of them without making any eye contact or greeting. Blaziken rolled her eyes, while Exploud rose a brow in confusion.

"That was weird," she stated.

"That was _expected_ ," Blaziken countered. "But, not gonna dwell on it. She doesn't like me, she doesn't like me…"

The two of them returned to Littleroot Town, and one of the first things they saw was Swampert dropping a pokeball into a bin with his name on it, while lying on the ground. "I hate my life…" he muttered.

The two girls approached, with Exploud holding back a laugh. "What happened?"

"Let's just say that it took a while for him to catch a Grovyle…" Zeraora commented, looking down at the groaning mud fish.

Blaziken sighed, while Exploud shook her head with a smirk. She walked forward and helped the large water- and ground-type up. Holding his head, he turned to the hen. "Thanks…" he replied.

"It's no problem," Blaziken replied. "Double weaknesses aren't fun are they?"

"Never," Swampert groaned as Exploud walked over to the bins.

There were fourteen bins, each with separate names on them. There was also a separate bin full of pokeballs, supposedly empty.

"Where'd these bins and pokeballs come from?" Exploud queried, turning to the hosts.

"They're for keeping track of how many Pokemon each of you have," Silvally explained. "We realize that bringing back six feral Pokemon all at once may be difficult, _and_ there is a chance that they may run off once you bring them back, so once you all were gone, we decided to implement this system."

"Well, that's kind of you," Blaziken commented, gently sitting the Mudkip into her bin, while Exploud tossed her two pokeballs into her own bin.

The Mudkip whimpered upon being put down and immediately jumped to get back into Blaziken's arms. She caught it, and it immediately cuddled back into her chest.

"Aw… That's just precious," Zeraora cooed.

Blaziken giggled, gently massaging the back of the Mudkip's head. "Aw… It's okay, cutie. It's just for a challenge," she said soothingly, looking at its saddened face.

Swampert smiled to himself upon seeing that. Walking up to the two, he looked at the small Mudkip in her arms and waved a finger in front of it. It reached for it, a small smile appearing on its face as it finally grabbed it. He let out a sigh. "I remember being this way when I was still a Mudkip," he commented. "I never wanted my mom to leave my side…"

"Oh really?" Blaziken queried as she cradled the Mudkip in her left arm and reached for a pokeball.

"Yeah," Swampert replied sheepishly. "Big momma's boy, right here…"

Blaziken tapped the Mudkip with a pokeball, causing it to be sucked inside of it. After it shook a few times, it stayed put, allowing Blaziken to place it inside of her bin.

"Who has the most so far?" Blaziken queried.

"Exploud," Zeraora replied. "Though, based on the level of difficulty of possibly finding them, I say that Glalie is probably the furthest ahead. He brought back a Sceptile already."

"Jeez…" Swampert commented, holding his head.

"Yep," Silvally responded with a nod. "So, you guys had better get going. It'll get darker as time goes on, and it'll be much more difficult."

"I hear that," Exploud responded as she rushed back toward Route 101.

Blaziken walked after her, leaving Swampert behind. He turned to the hosts. "Do I really have to keep doing this?"

 **000**

"Come on, Pelipper, all you have to do is dive into the water and see if anything's down there," Masquerain urged as he and Pelipper sat on the edge of Route 103.

"Knowing the waters of this region, there's plenty of Luvdisc, Carvanha, Sharpedo, Tentacool, Tentacruel…"

"Pelipper, do you want to win the challenge or not?" Masquerain queried. "This can be an opportunity for you to prove yourself."

"Wait, why do I need to prove myself so early?" the Water Bird Pokemon inquired, eyeing the bug-type suspiciously.

"Because when it comes down to choosing teammates, with your kind nature, the others may view you as weak," Masquerain explained. "But, if you, or myself, are in charge of team picking, there's a bit of respect that can be added onto it and you establish yourself as a force to be reckoned with."

"Uh… I'm not so sure about that," the bird replied. "Pretty positive that everyone here is stronger than me. Even Spoink and Numel!"

"Just do it…" Masquerain groaned. "We're wasting time just sitting here."

Pelipper finally let out a sigh before flying into the water. Masquerain smirked to himself.

 **000**

" **Pelipper is going to be** _ **way**_ **too easy to manipulate," Masquerain commented. "It's almost not fun, but, I'm not here for fun anyway. I'm here to win."**

 **000**

Pelipper gasped for breath as he broke through the surface of the water. Masquerain, seeing him rise up so quickly, grew confused. "Did you even try?"

"Hey! I may be a water-type, but I'm also a flying-type! It's kinda difficult!"

"Tell that to a Mantyke or Mantine…" Masquerain retorted. "Just do it, dude!"

The Water Bird Pokemon groaned before diving back down into the water.

 **-000-**

Under the water, Pelipper gazed around, seeing numerous Pokemon swimming in groups. He spied some Feebas, oddly enough, Luvdisc, Goldeen, a few Staryu, Tentacool, and Carvanha. He swallowed in fear, seeing them swim around.

He only hoped that none of the Pokemon around him attacked. As he started swimming, scanning the ocean floor, doubts of finding any member of the water-type starter line entered his head. There were so many water-types and such a vast amount of water all around the Hoenn region that it would be borderline impossible for him to pinpoint the location of a Mudkip, Marshtomp, or Swampert.

He stopped swimming momentarily, floating next to a bunch of rocks, in order to just relax for a bit. Truth be told, the Water Bird Pokemon didn't care about being a leader. As long as he didn't completely screw something up for his team or present himself as a threat, he felt that he was safe.

He had seen these shows before. Usually annoyances got the early boot, and so far, he didn't think he was bothering anyone. He was honestly banking on either Claydol, Salamence, or Swampert going first. Claydol was pretty depressing, Salamence was just completely irate for no reason, and Swampert's laziness could end up hindering challenges.

Thinking of Swampert, a thought came to his head about the challenge. "Wait," he started. "They said Littleroot, Oldale, and Routes 101 and 102. And this is Route 103…"

He swam back toward the surface of the water before completely flying out. He headed back toward Oldale Town, but upon reaching the area from where he and Masquerain were initially, he saw that the Eyeball Pokemon was no longer there.

"Huh. I wonder where he went…" he thought out loud, looking around.

 **000**

"Claydol… Seriously, get up," Masquerain demanded, flying above the sprawled out ground- and psychic-type. He was still lying on Route 101, staring at the sky, the ground, and to his sides due to his numerous eyes. "We're in a challenge. I don't think lying here is going to be effective in any way…"

"There's no point. Everything about these games is formulaic," Claydol replied, not moving an inch. "A strong player and an unexpected player will end up being the team leaders, the challenges will be as dull and generic as all other shows, we'll vote out people based on lies, manipulation, or just plain uselessness, and in the end, someone unexpected will end up winning. It's all the same."

"And how do you know this for sure?" Masquerain tested, giving him a look of disbelief. "Nothing is ever exactly the same…"

"Life is," Claydol replied tonelessly. "You're born, you do stupid things, you grow up, do more stupid things, experience trials and tribulations, have 'fun' times, then eventually you die. Overall, life is just the story of how you died. Nothing matters."

Masquerain stared blankly at the Clay Doll Pokemon below him before simply flying off, leaving him alone. He let out a depressed sigh.

 **000**

" **Okay, that guy is so depressing that he makes** _ **me**_ **want to kill myself…" Masquerain commented. "So much for tricking** _ **him**_ **. I don't even want to be** _ **near**_ **him!"**

 **000**

Cacturne was dragging an unconscious Combusken by the comb, while a Grovyle was slung over her shoulder. Dragging the unresponsive fire- and fighting-type made her feel a bit better about her situation with Blaziken. Sure, she still didn't like her, but now she had even more confidence in the fact that she could beat her if she ever got out of line.

Coming from Route 102, the Scarecrow Pokemon looked around Oldale Town and saw many of her fellow competitors snooping around in houses, the Pokemon Center, and the Poke Mart. Rolling her eyes, she started walking toward Route 101.

"Cacturne!"

Stopping, she turned her to see who she was being called by. She saw Numel, Armaldo, and Spoink approach her, leading to her groaning in annoyance internally. "What is it?" she asked, a pinch of irritation in her voice.

"Uh… We were just wondering where you found those two," Numel queried, eyeing the unconscious middle stages.

"Route 102," she replied. "You realize that they're not going to just automatically be there, right? You have to search wherever you can."

"Alright then, thanks," Numel replied as Armaldo and Spoink followed her.

Cacturne rolled her eyes before continuing along her way. She didn't really care to help anyone, especially those she felt were too weak. As she entered the route, her eyes immediately caught Masquerain, who was flying away.

She continued toward Littleroot Town, passing by Claydol, who was still in the same spot. She let out a sigh. "Don't sign up for a show if you don't plan on trying…" she muttered to herself.

She made it back to Littleroot Town and saw Glalie and Salamence already there.

"I will kill you!" Salamence growled, whipping her tail at the ice-type, who floated upwards to dodge it.

"You have _major_ issues that you need to take care of," Glalie stated, glowering at the dragon as he floated back toward Route 101. "If you're pissy about fair play in challenges, then you don't even need to be here."

Salamence blasted a Flamethrower in his direction. The Face Pokemon floated upwards, dodging it, while Cacturne took the brunt of the attack. She glowered at the Dragon Pokemon, who growled, her eyes locked on Glalie.

"Huh, you took that like it was nothing," Glalie commented, observing her reaction. "Interesting…"

Cacturne just continued forward with her two middle stages. Salamence flew up and toward Glalie with a murder intent, much to his annoyance.

"Okay, Cacturne, now I'm interested," Silvally commented. "How were you able to take a full-force Flamethrower from Salamence?"

"I plead the fifth," she responded tonelessly, tossing the Grovyle over her shoulder on the ground.

She reached into the pokeball bin and pulled out two of them. She dropped one onto each Pokemon, encapsulating them. Once the balls stopped shaking, Cacturne picked them up and tossed them into her bin.

Checking each other bin, she saw that, so far, she was in the lead, having half collected already. "Looks like I have a chance at winning this thing."

"Yep," Zeraora replied. "All of you have a chance. It's just all about luck."

Cacturne began walking back into Route 101, determined to find the remaining members of the starter lines she had.

 **000**

" **So far, this show sucks," Cacturne commented. "Everyone here is either an annoyance or a nobody. But, I might as well try to win…"**

 **000**

Spoink was still using her metal detector; so far she had found seventy-five cents, an old amulet, a charm, and a magnet. All of these items were safely in her treasure sack, which she held over her head via kinesis.

The Bounce Pokemon continued waving her treasure finder around; it beeped upon facing the water, signifying that something was near the small pond. Scanning the ground via psychic waves, Spoink came across something small.

"Ugh… Searching the trees is going to be _so_ tedious!" Armaldo moaned.

"Well, we were lucky that Cacturne let us get the other two Treecko," Numel reminded. "I don't think actually having to look will be such a bad thing."

"WOW!" the two girls heard Spoink exclaim.

Turning back to their friend, they saw that she was holding a watch in her hand. And, strangely enough, the watch was completely yellow. Seeing this, the girls gaped in awe.

"Is that a gold plated watch!?" Numel exclaimed in shock.

"I'm not sure," Spoink replied, looking it over. "It could just be painted or something, but still…"

"Huh," Armaldo started. "Well, either way it's probably worth a good amount. But, right now we need to focus on the challenge. It'll take us a long time to find the starters if we don't hurry."

"Well, We can try that stick clacking thing that Cacturne did," Numel suggested. "It brought her some Treecko, after all."

"But we don't need Treecko," Armaldo replied. " We need its evolutions, and then we need another line altogether!"

"Maybe it'll lure _more_ than just Treecko this time," Numel thought out loud. "And… since you're the only one with semi-functioning arms…"

Armaldo let out a sigh. " _I'm_ the one who has to do it. Right…"

 **-000-**

Armaldo was holding two sticks in her arms as she stood near the trees in the forest. She shook her head. "I don't think this will work…"

"Just try it," Numel said as Spoink started bouncing around, using her metal detector. "You never know…"

"I don't even remember the pattern she used," Armaldo replied.

"Then just start clacking and see if you lure something anyway," Numel suggested.

Armaldo sighed before clacking the sticks together. The girls remained quiet, allowing the sound to echo around the the area, ensuring that it was heard.

 _Clack… Clack… Cl-Clack… Clack…_

Continuing with that same pattern, nothing seemed to be approaching, as Numel and Spoink looked around the vicinity. As they did so, Glalie floated into the scene, raising a brow upon seeing what was happening.

"Uh… What the hell is going on here?" the Face Pokemon queried. He couldn't see the point of clacking sticks in this challenge.

"Oh, hi Glalie," Numel greeted giddily, turning to him. "We're just trying to do the same thing that Cacturne did to get a bunch of Treecko to come to her!"

"...By clacking sticks together," Glalie tonelessly replied.

"Yeah," Armaldo replied, ceasing the action. "Cacturne clacked some sticks together in a some kind of pattern, and Treecko started to appear around and go toward her."

"Is that so?" Glalie responded, intrigued by what they were saying. He didn't really know if he could take them seriously, given who they were, but the possibility of Cacturne being able to do something like that really piqued his interest.

 **000**

" **Cacturne is very interesting to me so far, albeit she's still a bit of an edgy weirdo. So far, she found the bus without any hints or notice, apparently beat the hell out of a Pokemon that she had a double weakness to, took a Flamethrower from an angry dragon bitch, and now she's some magical pied piper with sticks…"**

" **Someone like that can pose a huge threat, so we may have to bid her farewell soon enough," Glalie commented. "Like Masquerain said, everyone's a threat, both weak and strong. If only morons who sign up for these shows understood that."**

 **000**

"So, come on Armaldo, keep it up. Maybe _your_ pattern will give us a Torchic or wild Swampert!" Numel proposed cheerily.

Gazing over at the pond, Glalie noticed bubbling coming from the water. He floated over to the pond as a light blue orb formed between his horns. A light blue, white, and purple beam was fired into the water, freezing it solid.

The girls turned toward him, confused.

"Glalie, what are you doing?" Spoink queried.

The ice-type smashed the ice that he created and went into the pond, not saying a word. A few minutes later Glalie rose up from the water with an unconscious Swampert on his head.

The girls gaped in shock. "Wh- How did you get that!?" Numel exclaimed.

"Uh… checking the water," Glalie replied simply as he started floating away. It was pretty self explanatory, after all.

Once the Face Pokemon was out of the vicinity, the girls exchanged looks. Spoink hopped back over toward the pond in order to search for herself. Taking a deep breath, she hopped inside of the pond. Opening her eyes, she looked around and saw a Marshtomp clapping its hands with a smile. Her eyes widened.

She rose from the water. "Girls, there's a Marshtomp!"

Armaldo dropped the sticks and headed over to the pond. Numel followed suit, just as a Grovyle came out of the forest, looking around.

Re-entering the route, Hariyama saw that the girls were already in the pond, fishing the Marshtomp out of it. He growled to himself. If he wanted to be a prick, he would have smacked them all out of the way and grabbed the Marshtomp, but he didn't really feel that it would be right.

He glanced forward and saw a Grovyle looking around. His eyes widened as he rushed toward it. The girls, turning to see Hariyama charging forward, saw what he was charging at and gaped once again.

"Hey! That's _our_ Grovyle!" Numel called.

"First come, first serve!" Hariyama yelled back as he slapped the Grovyle unconscious. Once it was on the ground, the Arm Thrust Pokemon leaned down to pick it up, only to be hit in the butt with a purple beam, launching him into a tree.

"Spoink!" Numel exclaimed, surprised by her friend's sudden attack.

"What? He was going to take the Grovyle that _you_ guys lured," Spoink explained. "He can't do that, so I handled it."

Armaldo shrugged. "Well, I'll get the Grovyle. You guys take the Marshtomp and I'll meet you there."

Spoink lifted the Marshtomp via Psychic before bouncing away with it; Numel looked at Hariyama, who was unconscious near a tree. She let out a sigh before following Spoink.

Armaldo walked toward the unconscious gecko and picked it up before turning back around and walking after the girls.

 **000**

" **Wow… I didn't expect Spoink to do that, to be honest," Numel explained. "I'm not really a violent person, so seeing that was a bit...uncomfortable."**

" **But, it was kinda warranted, I guess."**

 **000**

 **Hariyama groaned, rubbing his head. "Note to self: Don't annoy Spoink and try to get rid of her as soon as the challenges start."**

" **They were nowhere near that Grovyle and they expect me to just leave it be? Screw that!"**

 **000**

Salamence steadily circled the areas that the hosts designated to find starters. So far she had gotten a Combusken and a Torchic. She would have had a Sceptile as well, but Glalie stole it from her. She was still peeved at that fact and wanted to destroy him.

"Stupid asshole… stealing my shit…" she grumbled to herself. As she floated back toward Littleroot Town, she saw the ice-type with something on his head.

A smile crept onto her face as she flew overhead and blasted a Flamethrower down at him.

 **-000-**

The Face Pokemon dumped the Swampert and a Treecko he had gotten from Oldale Town in front of the hosts before being hit with a Flamethrower from above.

"Ow…" he growled. He gazed upwards, seeing Salamence flying down toward them.

Once she was close enough, Glalie used Ice Beam, striking Salamence. The dragon was slowly frozen solid, but continued hurtling toward them. Salamence landed on the ground next to him. He turned back toward the hosts, who were just taken aback.

"Uh… What the hell is up with you guys?" Silvally chortled. "You guys are taking super effective attacks and not budging at all."

"Just because we're a certain type doesn't mean we're guaranteed to go down in one hit," Glalie responded tonelessly as he reached into the bin with his mouth and pulled out a ball.

He dropped the first one onto the Treecko and the second onto the Swampert. After shaking a decent amount, both pokeballs ceased their shaking and he was able to toss them both into his bin. Bring his score to four.

"Two more to go and I win…" Glalie stated before looking back at Salamence and shaking his head. "Moron…"

 **000**

Pelipper had run into Volbeat in Oldale Town. At this point, they weren't too bothered with the challenge and were instead simply engaging in casual conversation as they flew around.

"So, have you ever been in a relationship?" Volbeat queried, interested in the other guys' dating experience. He just hoped that someone had it worse than him.

"Hmm, not really," the Water Bird Pokemon replied. "Haven't really been looking. I don't even really know my type."

In his head, Volbeat sighed to himself. The saying _was_ 'It's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.' So, he was going to take it.

"Well, that sucks…" Volbeat commented.

"Not really," Pelipper replied. "I've been living without a woman's touch for twelve years and I'm perfectly fine…"

"Um, out of curiosity, are you gay? Just because the way that sounds is like… you're happy about it," Volbeat queried, a bit unhinged by his cheerful tone.

"What? No!" Pelipper replied. "I'm just not looking."

"Okay, just checking," Volbeat replied. "So, you said that you were an accountant?"

"Yeah."

"How'd you land that kind of job?" Volbeat queried as the two of them flew back to Littleroot Town.

"Eh, my uncle got me an interview at a company. They liked me, so they got me a job," Pelipper explained nonchalantly. "Kinda boring, but it pays the bills. Can't really complain _that_ much…"

"Huh, well that's kinda co-" the Firefly Pokemon stopped speaking as he eyed Claydol, who was still lying in his same spot by the trees. At this point, the Clay Doll Pokemon had a few leaves on his body, and a couple of Poochyena were gnawing at him.

Volbeat, seeing this, used Bug Buzz. His wings turned red and as he flapped them, red rings approached the Poochyena and Claydol, chasing the Bite Pokemon away, and leaving Claydol to let out an emotionless, "Ow…"

"Sorry about that, dude," Volbeat apologized as he and Pelipper floated over to the pessimist.

"Are you okay?" Pelipper queried, looking down at him.

"The sunlight beams down upon my body and yet I feel no warmth…" Claydol replied. "Life sucks…"

"...Alright then," Volbeat replied. "Uh… Are you gonna be getting up anytime soon? Just lying there complaining isn't going to change anything…"

"And telling me that my actions will not provide influence will not do that, either," he retorted. "We're all destined to face physical and emotional turmoil as our presence lingers in this competition."

"You mean like all of the other shows?" Pelipper queried. "That happens anyway. Things get awful, but things also get better afterwards."

"There have been more negatives in the world than positives," Claydol replied. "Senseless violence, wars, typism, cheating, death, thievery, regionism, idiocy, social media drama, awful music, awful television, rape, spoiled milk…. It all sucks ass and has a ton of impact on the world today."

"Did… Did you say spoiled milk?"

"People are lactose intolerant, the taste is a hit or miss, and when it is spoiled, it smells awful, tastes awful, and looks awful, so yes" Claydol replied in his same manner.

"Well, all of that is true, but majority of the time, people go to jail for their crimes…"

"The cops only drive around neighborhoods where dark-types live…" Claydol replied. "I saw them break into a mother Zoroark's house and arrest her just because a Delibird didn't like how she looked at him at a grocery store. She's still serving seven years…"

"Well, I have no response to that, so I'm just going to fly away," Volbeat commented as he and Pelipper promptly flew away.

Claydol let out another sigh. "Life stinks…"

 **000**

"Ahhhhh!" Swampert yelled as he was thrown into a tree, causing the tree to snap and fall over.

He was facing another Swampert, one that looked very aggressive. The Mud Fish Pokemon groaned in pain as he rubbed his head.

The wild Swampert punched him in the face, causing him to recoil in pain. "What the hell?!"

He threw his own punch, but the feral Swampert dodged it and pounced on him, pinning him down. Swampert head butted it in the face, disorienting it.

Swampert got back to his feet, only to be smacked back down. He growled, kicking the other Swampert in the stomach, sending it on its back.

Getting atop it, Swampert's arms glowed a bright red-orange as he rose them up and slammed them back down onto the feral Swampert's chest, knocking it out cold. He groaned as he plopped on his rear.

"Not bad," he heard from the side. Turning, he saw Blaziken standing there, a hand on her hip. He got to his feet, popping his back in the process and let out a sigh.

"Thanks…" he replied. "I haven't even left this town, but shit keeps finding me and trying to kick my ass!"

Blaziken giggled. "Well, I don't know how to explain that. Maybe I should stick around here, too if that's how it is…"

"You might as well. I've seen Grovyle, this guy… or gal, and a few Torchic marched past not so long ago," he explained.

"And I just brought back a Combusken…" she replied. "So, that's pretty good for me."

Swampert chuckled softly. "Well, feel free to stick around," he said as he grabbed the other Swampert by the foot and dragged it toward the hosts.

Blaziken rose a brow.

 **000**

" **Huh, for a lazy guy, Swampert actually has some strength behind him," Blaziken commented. "That could be useful. I'll have to get it out of him if we end up on the same team…"**

 **000**

Swampert tossed a ball onto the feral species. Once it was secured inside of the ball, Swampert tossed it into his bin and turned around, to see Blaziken still standing there.

"So, do you think you can help me out?" Blaziken queried. "I know that you don't even really want to do this challenge, but-"

"Hell, you can have my Swampert," Swampert replied before letting out a sigh. "Man, it's confusing to say that…"

He paused momentarily, turning to the hosts. "Wait, am I allowed to do this?"

"No rule against it," Silvally replied. "Hell, other competitors have been helping each other the entire time. Kinda weird, but understandable, I suppose. Not everyone wants to be a leader, I suppose."

"Great," Swampert said, dropping his species into Blaziken's bin. "I wish I could give you my Grovyle, too, but… You've got the Mudkip and Torchic lines…"

"Well, thanks anyway," Blaziken replied. "Now I'm halfway finished."

"No problem at all…"

"Hey guys," Volbeat greeted as he and Pelipper entered Littleroot Town. "Anyone close to winning yet?"

A few seconds later, Armaldo, Spoink, and Numel came into the scene, holding their catches. "Alright, this should be… three for us," Spoink said as she dropped the Marshtomp and Armaldo dropped the Grovyle.

"Uh… Why is Salamence frozen solid over there?" Numel queried gazing over at the melting ice the dragon was encased in.

"She was being a bitch. That's why," they heard as Glalie floated down from the sky, a Grovyle held between his horns.

He slid the Wood Gecko Pokemon off of himself before reaching into the bin of pokeballs. The others that had arrived earlier began doing so as well.

"Wow, almost everyone's coming back," Zeraora commented, looking around at the eight players standing in Littleroot Town.

"One more and I'm automatically a team captain," Glalie gloated as he dropped his fifth pokeball into his bin. "Just need to find a Mudkip…"

" _Joy…_ " Swampert drawled.

Grunting was soon heard as Cacturne entered Littleroot Town dragging an unconscious Blaziken and Sceptile, and cradling a Torchic in her arms. Exploud was in tow, her arms folded.

"Wow, what the fuck…" Volbeat marveled. "How are you carrying-"

"No, I think a better question is _how_ did you _catch_ the three of them?" Blaziken queried, seeing a member of her species being dragged by its hair.

"None of your concern," Cacturne replied as she released the two Pokemon and walked over to the bin of pokeballs.

She lightly tapped the Torchic's head, capturing it and placing it into her bin as Glalie, Spoink, Armaldo, and Numel began to leave after placing their Pokemon in their bins.

She dropped pokeballs on the Sceptile and Blaziken, and after they shook for a while, they stopped. She picked them both up and placed them into her bin before turning to the hosts. "I've got all six. So, I'm a captain now, right?"

"Yep," Silvally replied. "Congrats. You're a winner of our first ever challenge."

"Good," Cacturne stated with a firm nod.

Volbeat and Pelipper exchanged looks, Exploud and Swampert simply shrugged, and Blaziken could only roll her eyes. She didn't really care; she just knew for a fact that Cacturne wasn't going to choose her.

A few seconds later, Claydol floated into the scene, juggling six pokeballs in the air via kinesis. Everyone watched him in confusion, as the Clay Doll Pokemon had just been lying in a single space for the entire challenge while moaning and spewing negativity.

"Whoa whoa whoa… Time out," Exploud commented. "Where did those pokeballs come from and are they even filled?"

Claydol didn't reply, he simply dropped all of his pokeballs into his bin. He then turned to the hosts.

"Claydol… Did you-"

"Yes," he interrupted in his same tone. "No rule against using kinesis or psychic-type moves to aid, therefore you can't penalize me for it."

The hosts paused, exchanging looks of unsurety. The ground- and psychic-type was correct in that regard, that actually _hadn't_ said anything regarding the use of psychic-type abilities. They didn't really expect anyone to use them anyway.

"Well, I suppose you're correct in that regard," Zeraora commented, folding her arms. "So, congratulations, Claydol. You and Cacturne are now team leaders."

The others could not believe it. Out of _everyone_ to win a spot as a leader, the depressing pessimist who hates life wins.

"Well, the first challenge is now over. So, let's round up everyone and let's get the teams settled," Silvally stated.

 **000**

As the sun slowly set over the Hoenn Region, calming wind blew through the vicinity. Everyone returned to Littleroot Town, the contestants lining up in front of the two cabins. The hosts were before them, holding smiles.

"Alright, great job in the challenge today everyone. I hope that you all enjoyed yourself in some way, shape, or form," Zeraora said cheerily.

"It was tedious as all hell and you guys allowed a last minute ass-pull strategy to win, making the majority of the challenge pointless," Glalie commented.

"Oh, s-shut the f-fuck up," Salamence growled. "You're just pissy that you didn't win because you weren't smart enough…"

Glalie rolled his eyes at her ignorance.

"Anyways, once again, congratulations Cacturne and Claydol for winning today's challenge. Now you guys have the chance to pick who you would like to have on each of your teams. So, if you both would just step forward," Silvally explained.

Cacturne and Claydol moved toward the hosts, with Cacturne standing on Zeraora's side and Claydol floating next to Silvally.

"Now, since it's generally 'ladies first', we're going to let Cacturne go first," Zeraora explained. "So… go for it, Cacturne."

Cacturne let out a sigh before looking at her fellow competitors. She wanted her team to be strong, reliable, and have no annoyances. She felt that she could rely on Exploud, but seeing her with Blaziken earlier soured that a bit. So, she went with her nex best option. "Hariyama…"

Hariyama, hearing his name be called, was surprised to be called first.

"Alright, when your name is called, come stand next to your new team captain," Zeraora continued. "So, Hariyama…"

Hariyama shrugged and walked next to Cacturne.

"Claydol?" Silvally said questioningly.

"Being a leader only puts the blame on yourself when things go awry a majority of the time, so I'm choosing Glalie to be the main leader of my team," Claydol drawled.

"Uh… alright then?" Silvally replied, completely puzzled by what he meant. "Glalie…"

"Oh joy… I'm on team depression…" he groaned.

"Well, with that attitude, you're fitting right in," Salamence replied, making Glalie glare at her.

"I choose Salamence," Cacturne stated, surprising everyone, even Salamence herself.

"Oh? I guess you realize that I'm actually a fierce competitor…" Salamence commented haughtily as she walked over to her.

"You choose from now on. I could care less, but there's nothing to really care about at all…"

"Arceus dammit, you're so depressing…" Glalie growled before turning to the hosts. "Am I allowed?"

"Glalie's fine with it, so go right ahead," Silvally responded with a smile.

"In that case, I choose Blaziken," Glalie replied. "We'll need all the power we can get…"

Blaziken sighed to herself, but walked over anyway.

Cacturne was about to choose Swampert next, due to his possible strength, but remembering his laziness and careless attitude, she decided against it. "Pelipper."

Pelipper was surprised to hear his name be called and flew over to his group. However, looking back at the others, Cacturne facepalmed herself. Exploud and Armaldo were probably _much_ better than Pelipper.

"Swampert…" Glalie stated; Blaziken had whispered something to him about the Mud Fish Pokemon's usability.

Swampert rose a brow initially, but shrugged and lugged himself over to their side.

 **000**

" **Blaziken told me that she'd whip Swampert into shape and make him lose his laziness. Since she's a 'hot' fitness instructor, I feel that I can take her word for it…" Glalie commented.**

 **000**

Seeing Swampert be chosen next, Exploud tapped her foot rather impatiently. She expected to be one of the first players that Cacturne chose. The fact that she chose _Salamence_ before her really irked her a bit. Sure, she was a strong competitor, but she was quick-tempered and bitchy. Why would she be so quick to choose her?

"Armaldo," Cacturne called.

Armaldo was surprised, but walked over to their side nonetheless. Exploud gaped. "Come on, Cacturne!"

"Exploud…" Glalie stated with a smirk.

Cacturne immediately sent a glare in the Face Pokemon's direction. Exploud was definitely going to be her next choice. She could see the disappointment on Exploud's face as the Loud Noise Pokemon walked toward the opposite side.

She gazed back at the remaining four contestants: Spoink, Numel, Volbeat, and Masquerain. Out of the four of them, she was tolerant of Masquerain the most.

"Masquerain," she stated.

" _Finally_ ," the Eyeball Pokemon groaned before flying over. "Jeez… I swear, I'm not as useless as you guys may think…"

"Eh… Let's let them have Volbeat," Glalie said. "Hariyama's over there, after all. Spoink, over here!"

Spoink bounced over to their side. Seeing this, Cacturne sighed to herself. Now she had to choose between a love-scorned Volbeat and a… whatever you would call Numel. A do-gooder?

Hariyama nudged her. "I can handle Volbeat if you want. He's pretty cool."

Hearing this, Cacturne rolled her eyes. "Volbeat…"

The Firefly Pokemon breathed out a sigh. He wasn't picked last! He flew over to his new team, standing on Hariyama's shoulder, while Numel gloomily made her way over to her new team. "Picked last once again. It's highschool all over again."

"Well, you guys are now in your new teams, and since we want you guys to have a bit more of a choice. We're going to allow you guys to choose your own team names," Zeraora explained. "So, consult with your teammates and let us know what you've come up with…"

"Uh… No thanks," Glalie said. "If I'll say anything about these shows, is that I enjoy the names based on legendaries or team leaders. I have no idea why, but it's a personal preference."

"Well, feel free to name your team something along those lines," Silvally replied. "We'll give you about five minutes…"

 **-000-**

"Well, I believe that we should name ourselves-"

"Grandiose Groudons," Exploud interrupted, her arms folded in annoyance. "It fits the theme that you like and involves the region's main legendaries…"

"Meh, I don't really care," Swampert replied.

"It sounds cool," Numel commented as Spoink nodded in agreement.

"FIne by me," Blaziken added. "It's just a name…"

Glalie was going to suggest the Glorious Glalie, since _he_ was the one acting as the leader, while Claydol just floated around. And, seeing that everyone with the exception of himself and Claydol expressed agreement, he felt that he was outnumbered. He let out a sigh. "Alright, whatever…"

 **-000-**

"The Killer Kyogres," Cacturne stated. "Simple as that."

"Why not the Killer Cacturnes?" asked Armaldo. "It makes more sense. I don't see what Kyogre has to do with us."

"Kyogre is one of the main legendaries of this region," Masquerain explained. "I'm pretty sure that explains it. Anyways, it doesn't matter to me."

"I would thinking that we could be a bit more original than this…" Pelipper spoke up.

"Shut the fuck up," Salamence growled, making Pelipper stay quiet.

 **000**

"Alright, have you all come to an agreement?" Zeraora queried.

"The Grandiose Groudon," Glalie drawled.

"...The Killer Kyogres," Cacturne stated.

The hosts paused, exchanging looks before looking back at the contestants. The expected names a bit more creative and extravagant than just the standard ones, but… that was their choice.

"Well, I suppose that's okay," Silvally replied, looking at Claydol's team. "I'll admit, I expected something with a bit more… _pop_. But, to each their own. Congratulations. You guys are the Grandiose Groudons."

"And you all are the Killer Kyogres," Zeraora confirmed.

"So does this mean we have to move cabins now?" Spoink queried.

"Of course not," Zeraora answered. "Remember, you guys are all adults, so you can choose to sleep wherever you want…"

"Now, congratulations again on your new teams," Silvally greeted. "Try not to kill each other or get on each others' nerves before next Wednesday, hmm?"

"No promises…" Cacturne muttered to herself.

"We'll see you all Wednesday, so enjoy your break," Zeraora said as she and Silvally climbed aboard the bus.

As the bus began to take off, a few of the contestants waved them off, while others just returned to their gender's specific cabin. Apparently they weren't interested in learning about each other or giving assuring words already. They would wait until it was actually time for the next challenge.

 **000**

On the bus, the hosts exchanged thoughts about the challenge. There was a couple thing that confused them and others that they were unsure about.

"You think we should have disqualified Claydol for doing what he did?" Silvally queried.

"I mean, we didn't say anything against it, so I don't think it would have been fair," Zeraora replied. "But, then again, it's not fair to the others who had to manually hunt down the starters."

" _And_ he apparently gave the leadership role to Glalie, so things are still okay," Silvally added. "I can just hope that things don't get bad because of the teams. Oh, speaking of that, which team do you think will be superior?"

"Uh… What?"

"You know how in these shows, one team wins more than the other or others?" Silvally explained. "That's the superior team. So, which do you think will fit that role?"

Now having an understanding, Zeraora thought about it, remembering who all was on each team. "Nngh… Which one do _you_ think?" she retorted.

"Well, The Killer Kyogres have power behind them, but personality wise, I'm not sure how far it will help them," Silvally replied. "And then again, the Grandiose Groudon also have power behind them, too, but Claydol and Swampert are themselves, and I don't really know what Numel and Spoink will be able to do, so right now, I feel the Killer Kyogres have more going for them."

"That makes sense…" Zeraora replied. "But if Swampert _doesn't_ decide to be lazy, he could be a valuable asset to his team."

"True…" Silvally responded with an understanding nod. "Well, we'll just have to see as the game progresses."

"Yeah," Zeraora replied with a nod of her own.

 **000**

 **And thus, the teams are established. The Grandiose Groudons and Killer Kyogres… They really couldn't come up with better names, could they? Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this and I'll see you next time on Total… Pokemon… Hoenn! See ya guys, BYE!**


End file.
